The Night of the Forlorn Souls
by levy120
Summary: Join Mushu on his first adventure alongside Fa Deng and their uncertain friendship until that one fateful night. Mulan Prequel. Contains The "Ping Incident", Internet Memes and Comedy references. Rated for Blood and Violence.
1. Period 0 :: Mushu

_Special thanks to Alliriyan for Betareading; it was an honor to work with you.  
_

_Fanfiction presented by The Ancestors' Temple  
-_

**Period 0 – Mushu **

The dragon had taken hold of the reins, maneuvring the horse through the mess of slaughter and blood. There might still be a chance to get out of this alive.  
As small and frail as it might be.

The soldier snatched him up, threateningly holding the lizard-sized dragon in front of his face. He could not agree with his guardian, and even though he wanted to fight and accept his fate, he wanted to at least die in honor and not sneak away like the coward his guardian was. For now though, if only just for a moment, the ongoing war had become secondary.  
Cutting like swords, heated arguments were exchanged between allies.  
The reptile growled in response. It had hoped to sway the horse anyway, not the rider, for he didn't know what did him good.

And in the next instance the dragon found himself flung into the battlefield.

The little critter skidded over the dirty ground until he hit a corpse. Pushing himself away from the lifeless shell, his eyes immediately locked back upon his guarded one. That one had, due to their argument, lost his attention of the battle for only a second too long.

By the time the warning reached the soldier, his head had already hit the floor; and the horse startled in horror.  
-

**The Night of the Forlorn Souls**

He was young; a young dragon on his way to become big and famous. Big, yes that was the word. Big as these great mighty dragons that posed in the gardens of wealthy families, big as the guardians who protected the Emperor himself.  
Maybe; it was a dream he had, maybe one day he would be just as big or at least as famous as these elite warriors.  
The little dragon had finished his education and had just now been assigned with a family. His very own family, and from now on, Mushu would be the guardian of the Fa-family. He had been so excited over the past weeks that they seemed to have passed in no time – the family ancestors soon had a hard time with keeping the energetic little thing occupied; so once the time should come to send him out, there would be no second thoughts wasted.

That day arrived sooner than Mushu would have hoped for. The ancestors put high hopes into the young and inexperienced, yet encouraging and engaged little dragon. Besides, that way they would be granted some rest again.  
A small number of the members felt sorry for the dragon being sent out into the battlefield already on his first mission, for it was not an easy task. However they had the hope that his experiences there would possibly calm the little creature down and make him a little more… endurable.

Full of hope and with an open mind for the future, the guardian was sent out with his first protégé.  
Fa Deng.

Fa Deng had always been a good soldier and had so far attended many wars and battles. The ancestors considered an experienced soldier the best company for a whippersnapper guardian to learn with.  
Since the spirits usually made decisions wisely and impartially, no one would ever have expected a bond of such bad harmony to grow between the two souls like this.


	2. Period 1 :: Deng

**Period 1 – Deng **

Day 6

Spunky as ever Mushu scurried over his still-sleeping guarded one.  
"Good morning sunshine," he chirped playfully and splashed some water from a small bottle at the soldier, who got up with a disapproving grump.  
"I hope you make up for that!"  
"I am!" the dragon answered with a big grin and put a bowl of porridge into the man's lap.  
Deng raised an eyebrow.  
"What is this?"  
"It's healthy."  
"That's porridge!"  
"Yup."  
"That's… baby food."  
"And you're just acting like one, so I see nothing wrong with this picture."

Deng tilted his head and huffed at the dragon with a jokingly raised eyebrow.  
Mushu instead just collegially punched him in the side.  
"Trust me. It's better than that stuff you get out there." The dragon hopped from Deng's lap to shove the tent's curtain a little to the side.  
"It's sushi for them."  
Deng frowned.  
"Again?" he pouted.  
Mushu silently nodded and then scurried over to his protégé again, putting himself upon the man's shoulder.  
"You should be thankful for getting something else today. Besides," The dragon scurried down again, and sent a little flame at the bowl. It was not big enough to actually hurt Deng, yet he didn't expect it and almost dropped the food. Mushu though, averted that and caught the bowl between his skinny arms.  
"_Your_ meal is hot."  
"I see," Deng answered with a smirk and took the bowl, now gladly.

The soldier poked around in the food sceptically, examining it. Porridge wasn't exactly the best you could eat, and normally he would have probably preferred sushi, but not when he had lived off only sushi for six days the week already. This porridge was decorated with a childish smiley face of eggs and bacon that… looked at him. And it felt weird. This truly was the food of a child.  
Even before Deng tasted any, he put the bowl comfortably in his lap and looked over to the dragon who was already busy with something else again. Apparently he was playing around with the tent.

"Say, Mushu," Deng started and the dragon snapped around, his ears pricked attentively.  
"Yeah?"  
"What do you think you're doing here?"  
"Always do your best!" the dragon responded even faster than Deng was used to from his colleagues. "Why?" Mushu added quickly; "Is it too much salt?"  
The soldier paused for a moment. Speaking of the ingredients, he didn't even want to know where Mushu had taken them from. The dragon had probably stolen the whole lot from the cook's supply.  
And then he remembered his point again.

"No, it's fine," Deng answered, although he hadn't even tasted yet; "I mean, what do you think is your job here?"  
A warm smile put itself upon the dragon's features and he chuckled lightly, before he – against his bouncy nature – rather slowly walked over to his guarded one and leaned against one of his legs.  
"I'm taking care of you," he said and winked confidently.  
He then knocked against the bowl with a knuckle.  
"Now eat, before it gets cold again."

Deng rolled his eyes defeated and took a pinch of a sample.  
A little moment passed and he took another, now bigger portion.  
"This is good!" he suddenly exclaimed, continuing without further nudging.  
The dragon smiled approvingly and gave his guarded one a little space. It felt good to be accepted.

-  
Mushu's smile turned into stunned surprise as his ears perked up from the sound outside. The training had started already?  
Even before Deng could finish his meal, Mushu began to push him. Annoyed, the soldier stopped eating and glanced down at the little reptile behind him.  
"What is it this time?"  
"Get your pants on! They're starting!"  
"Wait, what?" Deng immediately stood up, almost ripping up the small tent in the progress. He rushed into his clothes; Mushu, during this process, hid in one of the soldier's boots. When Deng was about to put on that last item, the dragon scurried up his guarded one's legs and hid under his shirt.

Deng sped out of the tent, looking around. Apparently they were still on schedule. And he had been scared about his reputation. The man, now visibly more relaxed, then walked over to a bunch of people – a small group of four men that soon spotted him as well.  
"Deng!"  
"We already thought you wouldn't come anymore!"

Mushu curiously peeked out at the group, careful to stay hidden beneath the clothing. Now the dragon had been here for so long, yet he did not know these people; though his guarded one obviously did.  
Deng had been very hospitable so far, he and Mushu had gotten along pretty well for a start; yet his guarded one had never bothered to talk about the other soldiers, nor to take the guardian along with him to training. Today was in fact the furthest Mushu had been taken yet, and he couldn't help but think that it was exciting.  
Up till now the dragon had spent the previous days since his arrival in cleaning up the tent. He had only joined up with Deng once his guarded one had already been at the camp for a while; consequently his sleeping place had been a mess and while cleaning it out, Mushu had already learned a good deal about his guarded one's character. At least he had believed so – until now.

The reptile jerked up in surprise when one of the men had snuck around Deng, to smack his butt from behind. Deng, apparently gone nuts, laughed and returned the gesture. As they bumped their hips at each other Mushu reflexively dug himself back in, heading for Deng's spine in a groundless struggle. For a short moment, the dragon prayed that no one had seen him, and indeed he had been lucky – a lucky dragon after all.

"So, Deng, gonna kick the kiddies' butts again today?"  
"Sure thing," Deng laughed and Mushu relaxed at him not hopping around like a bunny anymore. The dragon made a mental note to ask his guarded one about that later.  
"The training starts in about 20 minutes!" another one of the men said. "I dare you to leave us alone with those newcomers!"  
"Of course not!" Deng could only manage a broken smile – he had his very own newcomer to attend to. "You go ahead and have fun already, I've still got something to do – but I will come after you guys!"  
With this the young man separated from the group and Mushu peeked up from his collar.

"Still got something to do?" the dragon questioned and put himself openly on Deng's shoulder as soon as no one was paying the soldier close attention.  
"Well, Mushu," Deng carefully lifted the dragon from his seat; "I really don't need you during my training." As much as the man knew how badly the dragon wanted to learn, if Mushu kept on clinging to him like this he'd be more of a burden than a help.  
"So why don't you go look for some friends yourself?"  
The soldier then let Mushu to the ground where the dragon crawled from his hand and looked up at his guarded one in silent awe.  
Deng frowned for a second.  
"If you get bored," he fudged an excuse; "you can wash my clothes."

Mushu silently nodded and then scuttled off towards the tent. Every now and again he stopped for a short moment, making sure that no one saw him, but soon the reptile had disappeared behind the cloth of the tent.  
Deng stood still for a moment. He knew that he was Mushu's only company for now, but as much as he approved of the dragon's optimism, Deng didn't want to have him around 24/7. Mushu's next lesson would be the subject of privacy.

The guardian had dragged some of Deng's clothing towards the river and kept himself upbeat with the thought that he was at least making himself useful. It reassured him that the 'drag' in dragon didn't stand for a drudge or… the other thing.  
-

Day 7

The next morning started out rather quiet. Deng had gotten back in his wake-up pattern, and was now enjoying his breakfast. Mushu sat cross-legged at the other side of the tent.  
"What did you do yesterday?" he spoke up.  
The dragon had found this was the right time to ask this question. On said day, he didn't have the chance; as Mushu had found Deng already fast asleep when the dragon had returned from his 'duties'.  
"We did the basics with the newcomers," Deng replied, "You know."  
Mushu frowned and bent forward a little.  
"I don't."  
Deng flinched subtly and put the bowl down, clearing his throat.

"We taught them the rules, some easy fighting skills. Don't steal, don't bicker, how to hold a staff, which is the right end of the sword, etc…"  
"You're still not through with that?" the dragon requested to know, just to be cuffed over the head.  
"Some of them just arrived," Deng explained his actions, while Mushu was still rubbing the sore part of his head. "We turned up pretty early here," the soldier continued; "that means I did…" he then mused to himself, just to be interrupted by his guardian.  
"You are fairly known here, aren't you?" Mushu said, tilting his head with a faint proud smile – his guarded one got to _teach_ stuff after all. And he seemed to be all-round popular. "Who were those people?"  
Deng was about to pick up his bowl again, but refrained from doing so after the question.  
"They're my pals," he said and stroked the guardian over his head in a rough motion. Mushu grabbed Deng's hand and more or less firmly pushed it down, so he could peek over it.  
"Are we pals?"

Deng stayed silent for a moment and picked up his bowl again. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the stubborn creature's own.  
"How about you? How was your day?" He switched the topic, a sudden coldness entering his voice.  
Mushu squinted at the stack of clothes.  
"I was… busy."  
Deng sighed and remained utterly still for a moment, before he put the soup down again. That dragon was worse than his wife!  
"Alright," he said.  
One of Mushu's ears perked up in alert.  
"But even buddies have rules," the soldier added.  
The dragon crossed his arms attentively.  
"Bring it on!"

-  
Being clued in into the conditions now, Mushu was allowed to join Deng in his training, as long as he behaved. That meant: No biting, no kicking, no scratching, and no randomly attacking people. When Mushu had reminded Deng that he was not a dog or anything of that sort, the soldier had announced that Mushu was also supposed to stay undercover and to respect Deng's privacy – whatever THAT meant.

The soldier stopped next to a tent and Mushu crawled upon his shoulders. Deng pointed into the direction of a large, flat plain.  
"This is the training area; it's where we teach them anything from theory to Kung-Fu." Deng's pointing finger then moved to the left. "Over there is a river. You can't have a camp without a decent water source."  
Mushu nodded subtly, he'd been there before.  
His guarded one then granted the dragon a peek into the tent closest to the training plaza.  
"This is where we keep the training tools." Deng turned to face the camp.  
"And this is where the recruits rest." The young man frowned at the empty picture and murmured a subdued, "Sleepy heads…"  
Mushu's eyes had locked upon their own sleeping place, as Deng turned around another time to point out a specific tent. The material and decorations alone made it clear – even from afar – that the owner of this tent was rich.  
"That's the General's tent."

Mushu jumped on Deng's head for a better view and then bent down to meet the face of this protégé upside-down.  
"The General, huh?"  
Deng nodded, careful not to shake his guardian off.  
"And the Captain?"  
Deng laughed contently, "Remember the men you asked me about?"  
It didn't take to be a genius to figure out the next step.

"You're friends with the Captain?" Mushu pointed at Deng to put weight on his astonishment.  
Deng nodded again with a proud smile.  
"My buddies and I take care of the rookies for him, before he starts the real training."  
Mushu scurried around on the head with excitement.  
"Does this make you a Vice or something?"  
The soldier made a grab for his guardian who did not resist being caught. He brought him down from his head and kept him in his hands.  
"No, I suppose not," he answered. He was merely doing the warm-up with them, important enough, but not worthy for anything of that rank.  
Mushu's ears dropped for a moment; then he dashed over Deng's arm and disappeared under the collar.

"Deng!" a voice from behind called; "Are you ready for the kids?" asked the guy. Deng gave him a thumbs-up and the man passed him, heading towards the tent with the equipment.  
Mushu peeked up from his hideout again and put himself on Deng's shoulders, his tail swayed contently around; though if he had to keep this up, it would become a chore sooner or later.  
The soldier squinted at his dragon.  
"You can watch the training," he started and then shrugged, "But I'd prefer that you'd do it from afar. I'd rather have you not stuck anywhere inside my clothes during that."

Mushu took a moment to contemplate the offer, though it didn't need long for him to agree with Deng. Clinging to his guarded one would be hard, and with all eyes on Deng during the training, at least one pair of them might spot Mushu sooner or later when he came up from the sweat-drenched shirt to catch some air. Not that he was one to bother about hygiene, that was the least of his worries, but he also preferred not to be tossed around so much.

However, all may have turned out well in the end; Deng wasn't rejecting him like he had been the previous day. The soldier had still granted, even requested the dragon to watch from afar.  
"I guess I'll be able to keep an eye or two on you," Mushu answered with a smug grin and bumped into Deng's cheek. He was then let down by the soldier and saluted his guarded one off.  
"Do your stuff!"  
And with that they parted.

-  
Mushu had seated himself on top of the weaponry tent, and watched the training session carefully. The rows were filled with beginners – just like him – and the dragon tried his best to pay good attention; he too might be learning something from it, especially since the 'training' had been less practical than what he had imagined. However it was clear that he wouldn't get to witness many more of these theory lessons. You couldn't get your guarded ones prepared for war fast enough – and a whole week was a great deal of perfectly wasted time already.


	3. Period 2 :: Ping

**Period 2 – Ping**

Day 10

"Hey, hey Deng! Hey! Hey, Deng! Hey!"  
Mushu was all excited when he woke his guarded one that day. Deng appeared rather grumpy as he attempted to pull himself into a sitting position.  
"What is it this time?" he asked in a sleepy hum.  
"Knife!"  
Deng bemusedly blinked his eyes awake.  
"What?"  
"I was saying, 'remember when you told me to find a friend'?" The tiny dragon beamed, and before Deng could even take in the message, the lizard-sized reptile jumped off to the ground and glanced directly up at his guarded one. "Well I found one!"  
Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes Deng didn't deny that he couldn't care less right now and simply responded with a disinterested "Aha?"  
The dragon nodded energetically and jumped over to the tent-door. He pulled open the flap and revealed…

A panda.

The thing sat there, lazily chewing on a piece of bamboo, completely indifferent to the world.  
And to top it all, it was blocking the doorway.  
"What… what is that?" Deng finally woke up and, almost ripping up the tent with his height, the soldier got to his feet. He carefully lowered himself again, as his guardian began to explain himself: "I found him in the woods, when I decided to do a little scouting there. I suppose the poor guy's gotten a little bit too far away from the border and well, what should I say… He followed me home! Can I keep him? Pleaaase? I'll hug him and squeeze him and feed him and take him for walks and…"  
"Mushu!" Deng cut him off, "This is a panda! Don't you think… anyone might notice such a big, lump of… fur?"  
"…I'll name him Pan Tau!" the dragon finished his rambling.  
The soldier pulled away a bit and blinked at his guardian.  
"That's a strange name."  
Mushu exchanged glances between the panda and his guarded one, before he scurried over to the animal and put himself on top of it, examining it.  
"Really? You think so? I think it sounds funny. Who knows, it might as well be famous one day!"  
Deng furrowed his brow.  
"Nonsense."  
Mushu frowned for a moment and then looked back down at the black and white, stroking it over the head with fluid motions.  
"Don't listen to him, big guy," the dragon coaxed, "Maybe you should show him some tricks. Yes, yes!" The dragon jumped back down to the ground to face the huge thing.  
"Sit boy! C'mon! That'll convince him!"  
The panda ignored the dragon's pleas for a while and then simply fell over, lying on its back, still munching on that little piece of bamboo that was already pretty… chewed-out.  
Mushu's guarded one raised an eyebrow at the situation until a strange feeling overcame him. Ignoring the little dragon and his new 'best friend', Deng carefully climbed over the big animal to survey the camp.

There was something chilly in the air. The soldier noticed a few rookies peeking out of their tent as well, so he wasn't the only one with the presentiment, yet the others seemed… scared to leave their tents. A good deal of them tried their best to keep the flaps of their tents as closed as possible.  
Checking the tents of his friends, Deng found that they had noticed it as well. One of them gave him some panicked hidden signs, another one stared dumbfounded at the panda before Deng's tent.  
Wait, should that thing leave?  
All of a sudden the panda sneezed. Deng was scared out of his wits.  
And from the sky fell a big cat.

All hell broke loose.

Mushu, in panic, had scurried into the back of the tent as a huge… beast toppled his guarded one. Getting on all fours, the dragon carefully snuck over to examine it and quickly decided that it was dangerous and had to leave.  
So he singed it,  
…and was promptly chased by the creature.

Smothered by the flaps of Deng's tent the leopard chased after the little reptile, who had an easy time dodging and squeezing through the carefully arranged tents – the blind cat however, didn't.  
Deng merely sat there, watching; shaking his head.  
The panda behind him burped.

Most of the soldiers fled in panic as the mummified predator rushed blindly through the camp, ripping anything in its way apart. The few soldiers that remained calm were the ones that still slept even after the roof above their heads had been stolen.

As the leopard rammed against a tree, a pair of eyes blinked out of it, surveying the scenario. The cat shook off the fabric and immediately continued to chase after a little red… – the creature in the tree squinted its eyes – dragon?  
Grumbling to itself the figure set off from the tree, revealing itself to be a large blue eastern dragon. The sunlight flashed over his body with a mint color that tinted the whole subject turquoise before he dissolved in the sky.  
Apparently he had found a black sheep that had been lost in his herd.

The chase below had ended abruptly when the leopard had gotten rid of the clothing that covered its eyes. It was an easy thing to track down the fire-starter, who had arrived at the weaponry tent and turned around to face the enemy.  
The big cat pressed itself against the ground, ready to pounce at its prey when a soldier jumped out of the tent, armed with a training stick to fight the animal off. The wooden stick locked in the leopard's ankles, leaving the claws flying around in midair. The soldier responsible for the assault was pushing it away in a ducked stance, so he wouldn't be hit by a paw.

The rookies watched the scene with awe.  
The panda yawned bored and moved away in all peace of mind.  
Deng got up and went to help his partner when the big cat overthrew the armed man.  
By the time Mushu's guarded one took over, some of the rookies had joined the fight.  
All appeared to go well for a while until the beast finally broke free and lunged at one of the rookies.  
In the next moment the leopard was sent flying through the air. It caught itself again with a growl, looking around at what sent the blow that came out of thin air; yet couldn't find anything.  
It hissed threateningly as something drove it back further and further.  
Some of the men dared to peek out from their hideouts again, the ones that had fought just stared bewildered as it appeared that the leopard might have been scared off by something.  
As it turned tail and sped back into the forest the soldiers cheered.  
Though there was not much to cheer about, Mushu reckoned, as he peeked from under the weaponry tent.

The place was a mess.

Still, as Mushu overlooked the destroyed campsite, a pair of rough hands lifted him up. The dragon however, did not struggle.  
"He followed me home!" the soldier quoted his guardian, clearly displeased. The panda he was referring to had already departed on its own by then.  
All Mushu could respond with was a sheepish grin.  
-

Day 11

It was the day after the incident. The dragon had tried his best at pretending that nothing had happened at all. As of now Mushu had placed himself on the top of the same tent when suddenly a gust of wind blew him off. Clawing onto the fabric, Mushu crawled up again only to spot a huge blue dragon – at least the size of the tent itself – standing there, laughing; apparently at him.  
Mushu frowned and in one swift motion flung himself on top of the tent again. The stranger applauded and petted the small dragon on the head afterwards; the guardian though wouldn't let himself be humiliated and roughly pushed the hand aside.  
The big one pulled his claw back and took a respectful distance, his laughter fading.  
"You're new here," he then spoke up. His voice was clear and pure. "Who's your guarded one?"  
Mushu tilted his head suspiciously, taking in the other dragon. He was big and unlike anything Mushu had ever seen before. His claws appeared strangely bird-like and the whiskers were almost as long as the dragon's body itself. The red lizard had so far only heard of this kind, yet he hadn't really believed in them until now. They were rumoured to be capable of floating.  
The blue giant seemed troubled by the little one's distrust and reacted with a gentle bow, to make up for his little prank.  
"How rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Ping."  
Mushu's ears perked up.  
"Like Ping, the guardian of the general, Ping? Like legit?"  
The long dragon silently nodded. Although you couldn't deny that his every movement had something calming about it, Mushu couldn't contain himself.  
"Awesome!" the small dragon exclaimed.

For a moment some of the soldiers turned to look at the tent, but couldn't see anything more than a little twig that had been stuck in the tarpaulin of the weapon tent, so they turned their attention to the training again. However, this hadn't stayed unnoticed to Ping, so he shushed the new one.  
Disliking to be silenced, Mushu shoved the claw away from his mouth, in a subtle way clinging on to it and continued his outburst at a more moderate level.  
"You're said to be a great hero where I come from!"  
The blue eastern gave him a look of approval.  
"That's nice to hear."  
"I am Mushu!" he introduced himself and tried to make himself look a little bigger, so as to not appear too tiny next to Ping, even if it didn't work at all.  
"My guarded one is Fa Deng! He's friends with the captain!" he went on, proud and now overexcited.  
Ping rubbed over his head to calm the little dragon.  
"Is that so? Then you ought to look out for him really well!"  
Mushu nodded with pride.  
"Why of course!" His tail flicked around excitedly. "But you know what would make that a lot easier? How about if you show me some tricks? Like your famous kick of annihilation or some such."  
For a moment the big blue one pulled back, glancing at the little reptile hopping around, while keeping his balance on the tent.  
"My famous kick of what? They tell you I do _what_?"  
"Well, yeah, I just made that one up, but you know, martial art skills and stuff. Hee-ya!"  
The large turquoise dragon pulled back at the little red one's outburst.  
Ping couldn't help but chuckle at his tiny friend, who was hopping around like a maniac and making up karate moves as he went.  
"They only taught you boring theory there, huh?" Ping laughed, when suddenly his ear twitched towards the soldiers. Ignoring Mushu, the blue dragon devoted his whole attention to the crowd; it didn't really matter for the little one wasn't paying attention to his mentor's question anyway.

Ping tapped the busy dragon on the shoulder. Mushu was at first too lost in his jumping around and didn't react. Only after the fourth time did he glance back at the tall dragon.  
The blue eastern then delicately pointed into the battlefield and there, without further ado, Deng received…  
a boot to the head.

The man toppled over to the ground; Mushu tensed up and dashed over immediately.  
"Deng?" He patted his head, not caring if anyone saw him right now. "Deng," he tried again, patting his cheek; "c'mon you won't let yourself go down from something like this!"  
"SNAKE!" someone in the crowd yelled.  
Ping face-palmed.

Ignoring the soldiers around him Mushu scurried over to examine the evidence. It was a boot, a stinky old boot and most likely thrown on purpose for it held a stone within. The dragon frowned, trying to sniff at it, when suddenly he shared the fate of his guarded one.  
The guardian flinched together as the stampede began. He tried to seek cover in Deng's shirt, yet the trainees immediately kept prying him away from his protégé. It didn't help that the reptile with the strange color, that probably signalised it was venomous, began to snap at the men in attempted self-defence.  
Mushu was dropped to the floor and shifted himself over the ground, gritting his teeth.  
"Dishonor!" was all he could think of responding right now; however it only reached deaf ears.  
Deng tried to pull himself up with a groan and a soldier had taken the chance to sling the distracted dragon into the next tree, where it slid down stock-still.

One of the rookies helped the trainer up, giving him support.  
"Master Fa!" another one called; "I just saved your life!"  
Deng just waved him off, murmuring inaudibly. Whatever helpful thing the trainee might have done, it hadn't helped his headache.

-  
Ping moved over to his tiny companion, poking him in the ribs.  
"Just five more minutes, Mommy," the dragon murmured, rolling to his side. The big eastern shook his head, lifting Mushu up with one of his claws. The dragon glanced at him, an obvious pout placed on his face.  
"I hope that teaches you something about being stealthy," Ping lectured him while he let go of the smaller guardian and observed as he gained his balance back.  
"Talk about boot to the head," Mushu complained as he rubbed the back of his own. His expression then turned into a critical frown.  
"How come they don't see _you_?" The dragon stopped rubbing and emphatically crossed his arms, "I mean… how can anyone overlook you? I can't believe I did."

Ping comfortably lay down on the floor, rubbing down the still aching head of his fellow.  
"It's a gift."  
Mushu pushed the claw aside again and tilted his head at the mentor, who merely shrugged.  
"We're all gifted," he explained, putting one claw above the other and calmly regarded his new acquaintance.  
"I'm sure there's something _really special_ that you can do as well."  
A smirk grew on Mushu's face after contemplating for a moment.  
"You mean like this?" he questioned and sent a tiny fireball at Ping's feet who flinched away in surprise, watching as the smoke dissolved before him.  
"That's unusual," it slipped out of him.  
Mushu shrugged, shifting rather uncomfortably, his arms shyly crossed behind his back.  
"I know," he began, "People say it's weird, bu-."  
Before he got to finish, Ping's mighty claw had flicked the little red guy to the ground. It didn't really hurt, but was still powerful enough to knock the tiny dragon over. It wasn't really a hard thing to achieve.  
"Don't say that!" the peaceful dragon suddenly spoke up in a voice darker and more furious than Mushu had known from him so far. The blue dragon placed his claw back down, pinpointing the little burn-mark on the ground.  
"This is unique," he said, without turning his eyes from the red guardian, who merely blinked. Ping drew his head back a little and then stood up to glance down at the dragon in the familiar calm fashion again.  
"You're one of a kind," he continued and hushed the red reptile, who was about to protest when Ping went on; "And that makes you special. Got it, buddy?"  
Forgetting the previous topic Mushu simply blinked up at the tall dragon – who was a legend – in awe.  
"Buddy…?" he asked.  
Ping stroked him over the head.  
"I don't want no objections," he declared and then took off to somewhere he could keep an eye on the whole camp.  
The little red dragon remained where he was for a while, his tail flicking unsteadily in utter silence. A slight gripe escaped his throat as he put his arms akimbo.  
"…but I think it's hot."

Eventually Mushu turned his attention towards the training plaza and noticed that dusk had begun to fall. A few isolated rookies were still attending to their training. Deng was not among them. He must have probably gone to bed already… Mushu sure hoped he'd taken a trip to the medical tent before that. However, for him it was time to do the same. And tomorrow – the dragon glanced back at the busy trainees for a moment – he'd have to take a look at the soldiers' boots. One of them ought to be missing one, and he would find and unmask that guy.  
-

Day 12

The next morning was rather uncomfortable for Mushu.  
Deng quietly dedicated his attention to the scrambled eggs, acting as though nothing had happened the day before. The bandage tied around his head however, told a different story.  
His guardian had been quietly observing for a while now, yet he didn't want to let the matter rest like this. So Mushu cleared his throat.  
The soldier froze in his movements and gave the dragon a close look.  
"It was a prank," he insisted, and continued eating.  
The dragon pressed his hands to the ground, as if he wanted to jump up any second.  
"It had a stone in it."  
"That doesn't make it less of a prank. Mushu, I'm fine!"  
"Sure, sure. You know you're covered in blood," the dragon insisted and then trailed off, "so what makes you so sure of that?" the guardian prodded, staring into empty space. He could hear the chopsticks rattle as his guarded one put the bowl down.

"I don't need a guardian," Deng suddenly announced. Mushu's ear perked up irritated. Now where did that come from?  
"I didn't need a guardian before and I don't need one now." Deng then elaborated, "I have no idea why the ancestors would suddenly decide otherwise, so truly, your only purpose here is that you earn some practical experiences for your job."  
The dragon didn't notice how his hands had dug themselves into the soil until Deng had finished his lovely little speech.  
"Well, maybe," Mushu responded, the slight hiss in his voice less subtle than he had intended; "the ancestors know something that you don't."  
Deng remained calm, almost stony, and the dragon's words just seemed to bounce back at him.

"I'm gonna find that guy and detect what he was up to," the guardian made his decision.  
"You won't," the soldier refused; "it was a prank."  
"A prank that got you injured!" The tiny dragon's volume had risen drastically and as he noticed, he pulled back, bowing his head in humble anger. Among other reasons, he did know better now than to let people notice him.  
"Are you gonna train today?" Mushu switched the topic to avoid the next onslaught from Deng.  
Deng… maybe _he_ knew something that the dragon didn't.  
The soldier removed his binds and tossed them in the corner of the tent.  
"Most likely," he answered dryly.

"You know," Mushu murmured, "I'd rather have you staying here and cure yourself tha-"  
In the next instance the dragon found himself lifted and placed upon his guarded one's head.  
"See?" Deng questioned and let the dragon plop down; "I don't even have a lump."  
The guardian used the opportunity to check carefully if his protégé was telling the truth. While the reptile scurried around on his guarded one's head and shoved parts of hair aside the soldier continued his reasoning.  
"You just need to calm down a bit," Deng pointed out in a more soothing voice than Mushu had known so far from him. The dragon let out a defeated sigh.  
"Fine."

The soldier picked his guardian up again and put him back down to sit in his lap like a little pet.  
"You really are a newcomer," said Deng; "this is not meant to be an insult; and your reaction to this prank proves it."  
The dragon raised a disbelieving eyebrow at his guarded one.  
"Think about it, Mushu. This is the training. Stuff like this happens, if it was intended or not; we ought to be prepared for it."  
For a moment, Deng didn't talk to his guardian anymore, he had drifted away when he continued, absentmindedly stroking the dragon over his back, as if he was a lonesome cat. To Mushu it felt like a needless comfort, however he couldn't help but notice that his protégé had started to quiver.  
"You haven't seen a battlefield yet."  
When Mushu would normally have shot out a semi-nasty response to this, he now simply glanced up at his guarded one. Remorse was mirroring in his face.  
"It was a prank," he admitted, although it sounded like a lie.

* * *

_Trivia:_  
First off, Thanks to all my readers and reviewers x3 Ilu  
This chapter has a lot of comedy references - who can find them all? ;D

Also this chapter is one of the many examples to show that this fanfic has a lot influence from the German version of Mulan, because the author utterly failed to look up the original movie and instead backwards-translated from the German version. Thus, Ping didn't end up to be Mushu's "best friend, growing up" and instead 'merely' "used to be a friend of him".  
Be warned of "Otto Waalkes" in later chapters. You're gonna love that guy.


	4. Period 3 :: Yingtao

**Period 3 – Yingtao **

Day 14

Convalescence was over. The two had managed to make a compromise. Deng had stayed in his tent that day, and for the last two days had attended training again. And indeed, he was doing well, just as before. Even Mushu quickly relaxed, soon forgetting about the incident. However, this time Deng wasn't all too eager to attend training.

"C'mon, Mushu, it'll be fun."  
The dragon grouched.  
"I'd rather you stayed here and did your work."  
"I know my work Mushu, I teach these lessons!"  
The reptile remained stern for a while, tapping his foot, contemplating.  
Deng had gotten the news from one of his crazy hip-bouncing friends that they had spotted a rice field, so now the group of them was going to ditch work – with the blessing of the Captain.  
It wasn't really something Mushu approved of, but he seriously needed to get a better relationship with Deng.  
Maybe this would help him.

So here they were, seated behind a row of bushes, creeping after the working women.  
The dragon's sight ran over the rice field disinterested. It had pretty girls indeed, yes, for Deng definitely, but nothing of his concern. Female guardians were rather rare and if he did spot one it was always either an ape or a rabbit, or… HUZZAH!

Mushu jumped up and climbed on Deng's back to get a better view. There was indeed a female dragon out there. Even from afar she seemed a tiny bit bigger than Mushu himself, but nothing that would happen to be a problem. Her scales were a deep magenta and her back was covered in white fur.  
"Strike!" the dragon cheered and without further explanation he leapt off from Deng and approached the female, carefully to stay out of the sight of the other soldiers.

"Hello, precious," he drawled as he approached her, getting her to peek at him for a short moment before she turned away disinterested. Alright, this called for something that would draw more… attention.  
"I'm going to murder you…" There was a moment of awkward silence and a freaked out glance that was followed by a silently mouthed '_What?_'.  
"…you bloody woman!" And then he winked at her, indicating that he'd just made a joke. It didn't really comfort the dragoness however, so she put her arms akimbo and changed to cross her arms defensively when the dragon had come a little too close for her taste.  
"You know," she spat, disgusted; "You probably just found the best first thing to say to the opposite sex, congratulations. You won a car!"  
"Oh really?" Mushu's ears popped up as he hopped around excitedly. "Where? Where?"  
The female was taken aback a little by his sudden outburst. Man, what a child. However, it had managed to put a smile on her face and loosen her defences.  
Whilst she shook her head with a weak smile, the male dragon switched the topic.

"So… any danger around?"  
It was obvious that he was referring to real danger, and not the little stunt he'd just pulled. She glanced past Mushu instead to give the bush behind him a suspicious frown.  
"You mean other than those horny soldiers?"  
Mushu hadn't expected an answer like this. His tail dropped down, and he stood there rather lost for a moment; then began to mutely wave his arms in wild, yet pointless gestures. She caught his arm with a chuckle, pressing it down to his side where it remained still and motionless.  
"I suppose _you're_ not like them?" she indicated with a subtle and due to that ignored undercurrent of sarcasm.  
"Of course not!" the tiny dragon exclaimed, trying to make himself look big and imposing. "I'm a cool dude!" he said and began to show off some of the karate-moves he'd picked up from Ping so far. In the end, the dragon landed face down in a puddle close to the rice field and glanced up at the dragoness with a sheepish grin.  
"Wow," she nodded. "You're a freezer." The dragoness then grabbed for Mushu's arm again, this time though, to help him up.  
"What's your name?" she asked, looking back for a moment, so that she wouldn't lose her own protégé out of sight, and then turned back to the red lizard who was busy cleaning off the muddy water.  
"Mushu," he answered as he realized she was looking at him again, and tried to swing out of the cleaning motions without showing his embarrassment.  
The dragoness nodded her head in approval.  
"I'm Yingtao. That's Cherry for you."  
"Cherry…?" Mushu repeated questioningly, calmly humming the melody of an awful song he once heard that wasn't supposed to be created until thousands of years from now.  
"What are you, a parrot?" the female asked and punched him collegially, causing the distracted dragon to land straight in the puddle once more. The splash woke him up again, this time though, he merely glared up at the female, growling up some bubbles with a beaten look on his face.

What a lunatic.

She gave him a derogative smile.  
"Cool dude," she started, bowing down to meet his eye level; "Let's be serious for a minute and play grown up, alright?"  
She tickled his nose with the tip of her tail and got a sneeze out of him that came along with a tiny flame.  
Slightly astonished, but not yet impressed, Yingtao drew herself up again.  
"Don't play with fire, kid," she chided. "You might burn yourself."  
Mushu got up with a grumble as the dragoness pranced off, swaying her hips mockingly.  
What a lunatic indeed. Couldn't she tell he was fireproof?  
"I'll call you!" he shouted after her; she just waved dismissively without turning around.

-  
"How was your day?"  
"I met a girl, while we were at the rice field," Mushu stated kind of proudly, while primping his scales. Deng could only give him a critical glance. "I think she's got the hots for me."  
The soldier raised an incredulous eyebrow.  
"Uh…" he started. "Well then, congratulations." His disbelief was clearly audible.  
-

Day 15

Mission: Take Cherry by storm!

Mushu snuck around the field. Every now and again he stopped to observe the location. Deng didn't know that his guardian was ditching work today; apparently the soldier had a greater influence on the reptile than either of them cared to admit.

Standing up, Mushu now looked around to spot Yingtao. He didn't want her to see him crawling towards her after all. Even though the guardian knew that all women wanted bastards, he still wanted to save himself some dignity. He'd been talking to Ping about his plans – Ping was one he could share his secrets with after all; however busy the blue dragon seemed to be, he always had some time for his best pal, so Mushu believed. Ping actually thought that Mushu would end up doomed with this strategy, but the guardian-apprentice trusted in his fortune deeply. After all Mushu was a lucky dragon.

And after all, she wouldn't end up slapping him all over the place about it.

Putting on his best grin as he walked over he decided to just jump into the deep end. After all, how could ANY female creature resist the mighty and powerful dragon that was HIM?  
Oh yes, he felt in the mood for a pretty little flirt _right_ there!  
Ought not to play with fire, huh? Well he would show her that he was HOT by nature!  
"Cherry! Ma Cherie~"  
The dragoness let go of whatever craft she was working on and turned around with a bothered sigh.

"What is it?"  
"You have really nice female traits."  
Yingtao blinked for a moment, until a cool and hard-nosed smile decorated her features.  
"Did you figure that out all by yourself?"  
"Of course!" The dragon walked over, and carefully leaned himself against the branches of the bush she was sitting in front of. "But did _you_ know that I have powers far beyond your imagination?"  
She merely chuckled, shook her head and went back to working on what appeared to be a small basket.  
"Dream on, jerk!"  
"But you say that with a smile!"  
She coshed the basket over his head.

Mission aborted.

The meshwork was still on Mushu's head, tangled up in his horns when he arrived back at Ping, who fought away a chuckle.  
"I suppose it didn't go so well?" he mocked, before he helped the tiny dragon to get rid of the woven weapon.  
"I have no idea what's gotten into her!" Mushu objected. "I thought all women liked bastards."  
"What?" Ping couldn't help but laugh out loud.  
The tiny dragon raised his eyebrow.  
"Who told you that?" requested the larger.  
Mushu grumped for a moment, as if it was obvious information for every male to know. His friend merely shook his head and then pulled the red guardian towards himself.  
"You know, I might have some tips for you there," he said.  
"Oh yeah?" Mushu questioned, raising one of his ears interestedly.

"Try flowers."

For a moment, there was silence.  
And then Mushu broke out into a huge giggle fit.  
"I'm sorry," the little reptile tried to calm himself; "but I thought you just said to try flowers."  
Ping raised an eyebrow at the dragon and crossed his arms in a lecturing manner.  
After a while the red one finally managed to calm himself down for a bit – until he spotted his pal's serious reaction and immediately cracked up again just to be coshed for a second time with the basket's remains.

And he indeed did dare to show up again.

Yingtao looked at the dragon's gift with surprise, tilting her head at him.  
"Oh, my," she sighed defeated. "Alright. Tell me something about yourself. Where did you learn?"  
Mushu put the flower down for a moment, clearing his throat. Then out of nowhere he pulled a pair of glasses and placed them on the tip of his nose.  
"This is a very good question! And I am really happy that out of all people here you chose to pose this question to ME. It is a really state-of-the-art question that I have been asked a lot of times already, yet I prefer not to answer this question with a common response, because whoever poses such an open question has the right to gain just such an open answer! Ladies and gentlemen, good night. Alright, where were we?"  
The dragoness blinked for a moment, taking the situation in and then frowned slightly at Mushu.  
"You're a jerk," she said; "but you're good at it."  
Mushu grinned, nodding proudly.  
"Why, thank you!"

And then he held out the flower to her.  
She cocked her head at it.

"You sure don't give up so fast," she said, a smile appearing on her face. "I appreciate that."  
The dragon handed her the gift with a nod and she took it, moving away again, at a now respectful distance instead of the former derogative gap.  
"So I always thought all men were morons?"  
"So you were wrong," Mushu answered. Boy, these females were so stuck up! This would turn out so differently if they had Matchmakers like the human kind.  
Yingtao took a look at the flower, crossed her arms and then gestured the little dragon to go on.  
"Well then, do your thing."

Mushu shrugged. He… honestly didn't have anything else prepared.  
Yingtao took another glance at the flower, sniffing at it, as she waited for his response. A cherry blossom, of course, what else.  
"Why the sudden change of heart?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the flower. The guardian was by now rubbing the back of his neck uneasily.  
"To be honest, it was the advice of a friend."  
She glanced up at him surprised, yet silent.  
"Ping said you might like this."  
"Ping?" she asked. "You mean Ping, the guardian of the general, Ping?"  
"Yeah!" Mushu confirmed, glad that he had a chance to switch the topic, since the situation had started to become _a little_ awkward for him. Who else would have thought that she wanted even MORE on top of the flower – what was he supposed to be doing? Write her a poem? Man, females.  
"He's a hero!" the red one then rambled on; "and he taught me everything I know. Well almost. The important stuff. I'm just not as good yet, but I will be!" he finished with a determined undertone, taking one of his made up karate poses – for emphasis!  
The dragoness raised the flower to a level that left only her eyes uncovered.  
"I see," she purred.

-  
Dusk had already fallen when Mushu had led Yingtao to the clearing where the soldiers usually trained. By now they were sleeping already.  
"Ping!" Mushu called, and the big dragon looped towards them from out of a tree. Due to the green palette of his two-colored set of scales it had been hard to tell in the dim light.  
"Mushu, it's late;" Ping groaned. "Why aren't you with Deng?"

The dragon waved the question aside.  
"He's a grown man."  
Then Mushu turned to present Yingtao, as if he was going to brag about a new car.  
"I've got someone here who wants to meet you."

First surprised, Ping turned to take a look at the female, tilting his head like innocence itself.  
Yingtao could have sworn a gush of wind blew through her fur, or it was merely a shiver running down her spine – both worked.

She turned back to Mushu, giving him a hint of a smile.  
"You were right, he truly is amazing."  
"I'd say so!" the red dragon agreed.

Ping slanted his head at the new dragon.  
"So you made a friend?" the tall dragon questioned.  
"Another one!" Mushu pointed out, receiving a warm and acknowledging smile.  
In a short lowering movement, Ping finally made contact with the floor. Some dust whirled up, but the blue dragon had done his best to keep it low. The dragon with the considerable size then bent down to meet the eyelevel of the two miniature guardians.  
"It is a pleasure to meet you…" he trailed off, leaving a questioning glance towards Yingtao's features.  
"Cherry," she told him.  
"…Cherry." Ping finished his sentence.

Mushu couldn't help but feel slightly irritated by Ping's behaviour, but he decided to just let it rest, when Deng called for him.  
"Oh, come on…" the dragon moaned.  
There was another call for the tiny guardian.  
"Maybe you should go, before he wakes up the whole camp." Ping nudged the dragon and Mushu, well, he decided he should make a good impression on Yingtao.

"Oh well… then…" he began his good-bye hesitantly. "You two have fun. I'll see you around."  
With that the red dragon sped away.

The female watched him leave and then turned to Ping.  
"Quite a perky little guy, isn't he?"  
"You can say that again."  
There was an awkward silence filling the air for a moment. With the actual bond between them all gone, things felt a little strange to both of them.  
"So…" Yingtao started again; "Mushu said you're his teacher?"  
Ping shrugged, shaking his head.  
"That's what he says."

Yingtao glanced at the tall dragon and then turned her view to the direction Mushu had left in.  
"He's quite fond of you," she stated. Ping tried to be oblivious to it. He merely tried to do his job; he couldn't have a little kid ruin the morale of the other guardians after all.  
"Whoever trained him before you… he did a bad job."  
The tall dragon decided to leave it at that and motioned to move into his tree again. Seeing that it was getting late, Yingtao also turned to head back. However, there was one thing more that nudged her.

"Ping," she asked, and the dragon glanced back at her.  
"Please take care of him."

It was settled with a nod.

* * *

_Trivia:_  
IT crowd and Otto Waalkes People, wheeeee 8D

Also: Say hello to Yingtao/Cherry. Now rip her apart. I want harsh harsh critism on her, since I tried to avoid Sueishness on a role in the plot that could be nothing else but a Sue. She is the infamous "girlfriend".


	5. Period 4 :: Jian

**Period 4 – Jian **

Day 25

The soldiers were improving greatly, nevertheless work appeared duller to Mushu with every passing day. Somehow the little dragon was fruitlessly waiting for a disaster to happen, that would give him something to do. Like a fire-fighter who was up and raring to extinguish some flames – just the other way around. Also, the dragon was itching to visit his new friends again, yet reason had convinced him otherwise. He still had a job to do, and however much he liked to hang out with Cherry and Ping, they were kind of getting to be a distraction.  
Giving a bored sigh Mushu rested his head upon his wrists, as he sat there watching over his guarded one. A figure walked past him and stopped, still as stone.

"Duuude," Mushu groaned; "I've been fighting so hard to be doing this. Now look at me."  
Ping chuckled and patted the little fellow comfortingly on his back.  
"How about if you focus on something else?"  
Mushu squinted at Ping for a moment, frowned, and then returned to fixing his eyes upon Deng. He couldn't do that, had been focussing on other stuff too much already lately.  
"Isn't there something else you can show me?" the red lizard pleaded.  
The blue giant slowly shook his head, a calm smile painted on his face.  
"It's the job of the guarded one to 'kick butt', not yours."  
Grumbling in defeat Mushu gave in, not noticing how Ping's glance swept over the soldiers.

"Say, have you seen Jian?"  
Mushu's ears perked up quizzically.  
"How am I possibly supposed to know each and every one of them?"  
Ping shrugged, slowly growing tired of the critter's stubborn questions.  
"He's Deng's friend. And missing."  
Stunned, the smaller dragon pulled back and went to gaze back at the crowd, searching for any familiar faces. There was the captain, there was the beardy one, there was the other guy and… oh, so that was Jian.  
"Why don't you go look for him?" Ping suggested, poking his friend in the side before he flew off. The red dragon looked after his friend and then squinted back at the soldiers.  
"When you say it, it always sounds so easy."

-  
Following the scent he'd picked up from the boot Mushu made his way through the nearby brushwood. And there the reptile had told Deng that he was nothing like a dog – yet the dragon couldn't deny that he was suffering from a mild identity crisis right now.  
And then if it wasn't for all those insects and ugh these ugly bugs… and… Mushu stopped for a moment, his nose itching as one of these nasty blades of grass stroked it.  
"No, no, no, no…" Mushu quickly clutched his mouth shut, but a few sparks made it through his claws anyway, setting the plants on fire. The little dragon quickly went to stomp them out before they could spread and once he was done with that he glanced at his hands and dusted them off with a frown… when he heard a rustle just a few feet away from him.  
Had someone noticed him?

No… it was Jian. Mushu however still sought cover behind a medium-sized rock, to keep an eye on the guy who was still on his black list of throwing boots. Squinting his eyes together the dragon examined the soldier. He was dragging a bow around. Maybe he was exercising the apple task – personally Mushu found that one ridiculous – or perhaps the soldier was trying to get his men some actual meat to eat for a change. Jian pulled some of the grass aside, revealing the training men below. The dragon raised his eyebrow. When the soldier actually drew his bow, Mushu jumped up, darted over to Jian and without a second thought sent a fireball at his butt.

It wasn't directly butt-_kicking_, but it worked just as well.  
The arrow the soldier had pinpointed before was heading straight up in the sky now, away from its previous target. The dragon wasn't entirely sure if it was the yelp or the arrow that had caused some of the birds to take flight.

"Oh you little…"  
The archer turned around, one of the worst glares Mushu had ever experienced in his life twisting the soldier's face.  
"…lizard?"  
Mushu growled, crossing his arms, offended.  
"Dragon!"  
It didn't matter to Jian as he lifted his fist, ready to smash it down on the little reptile. The guardian managed to escape and was now clinging to the rock, peeking up at the man who rose to his feet, indicating to draw another arrow. Mushu's ears pricked up and he scurried in the opposite direction when the soldier's foot hit the rock.  
Putting himself up on his feet and glancing around, the dragon then made his way over to the weapon, took a hold of it and – bit through the bowstring. It flexed back and Mushu could dodge it, however he did not notice the wooden piece until it knocked him over. Staring straight up at the soldier who had just threatened his protégé – among others – the guardian gave a furious hiss.  
When Jian made another attempt to squish the reptile, Mushu blew a fireball at his fist, and another one straight to the soldier's face, so he could make an escape. However, before the guardian could get to his feet, an arrow was blindly stabbed into the ground, just barely missing his face.  
The dragon froze for a moment, but soon had gathered himself once more; and before Jian could see clearly again, Mushu had sought shelter inside the bamboo-grove.  
Heavily panting the dragon took one last glance behind at the man, and then subconsciously began to finger his left ear.  
It stung.

Letting go of it the dragon peeked around again. Jian was gone, just as his bow and arrow. The only evidence of the recent occurrence were a few little burn marks, broken plants and the still-fresh mark on Mushu's ear.  
"Stealthiness," the dragon dispraised himself. "Of course." He rolled his eyes and made his way back to the camp.

-  
Shortly after Mushu arrived back at the camp, Jian toppled out of the forest. The dragon shot him a death glare and turned away as some of the worried rookies hurried over to the wounded sniper. Well, what you could call wounds: if it would have gone Mushu's way, Jian would have ended up in hospital – or dead.  
However, the dragon decided to let this matter rest.  
However, Deng didn't want to let it rest.

The shit had officially hit the fan. And it was as nasty as you'd expect.

"Jian came back with burn-marks today," the soldier announced sourly.  
"Little kids ought to learn not to play with fire," Mushu responded, crossing his arms in offence at the accusation.  
Deng frowned.  
"He said he'd go to scout the forest."  
"With a _bow_!" Mushu raised an eyebrow.  
"Yes with a _bow_! He could have been attacked by…" Deng stopped himself, turning away. He then glanced back at Mushu angrily, "... a wild animal."  
Mushu rolled his eyes, turning away as well.  
"Oh, COME ON!"

Deng pushed himself over to the guardian, staring the reptile straight in the eye.  
"How did you know he carried a bow anyway?"  
Mushu grumped and scratched over his chest a little as he thought up an excuse. Once he had one, he folded his arms again and tilted his head.  
"A birdy told me."

Deng smashed his fist into the ground, trying to get it as close to the guardian as possible without actually touching him.  
"Don't take me for a fool, Mushu! I doubt that the forest was burning to wound him like that!"  
Mushu fell a few steps back, frowning at his companion.  
"I tell you, Deng! He is a mole!"  
"He is my friend!" the solder raised his voice. He had to be careful that none of the other soldiers peeked in now to check for him and found him talking with a red lizard. "And he is a human for that matter!"  
"No, no, no!" Mushu stood up from his sitting position and lifted his hands defensively. "A mole! An enemy working undercover that sneaks in to gain your trust and then… BAM!"  
Deng raised his eyebrows with an angry frown.  
"You mean, like you?"  
"What? No, wait!"  
May the ancestors curse the day a guardian ever turned against his guarded one.  
Mushu backed away as Deng drew closer, that weird and particularly scary glint in his eyes.  
"Listen you little snake…" Deng started after his fist had cornered the dragon against the clothing of the tent. His hand went for Mushu's neck and lifted the struggling reptile from the ground.  
"I've been tolerating you here all this time for your sake only, but if I find you again, anywhere at all near to my friends, you won't be so fortunate anymore, Mr. Lucky-Charm! Are we understood?"  
Mushu gulped and nodded hastily before he managed to choke out a weary "Understood." and dropped down to the floor again.  
"Good." Deng settled the conversation and abandoned the tent, leaving a scared little dragon behind.

* * *

-  
_Trivia:_  
Character Introductions are done now! Let's get READY TO RUMBLE *rubs hands*  
Also, this is one of my fav chapters in the whole thing =)


	6. Period 5 :: Liability

**Period 5 – Liability **

Day 29

Guardian and guarded one tried their best to ignore the events of the previous days. Even if they acted as though nothing had happened, the tension between the two of them had experienced a considerable growth.  
Every now and then Mushu really wanted to just steal himself away, yet he had the feeling that visiting Cherry or Ping in times like this would only make the situation worse; so the dragon kept himself from doing so.

And then came the day, that had changed it all. The day none had hoped to experience, yet every one of them had known would come. Two fourths of the troop had been called out into the battlefield.  
Frontlines.  
Another division was sent out to scout.

Jian was among the soldiers that left. Save for a scar he had recovered fast from the burns and had made more of a deal out of it than it had been worth; just to stir things up a little. Mushu didn't like to let that guy out of his sight. Especially since Ping was going to depart as well and that was leaving him and Deng behind with the remaining recruits.

It was also the day that, for the first time, it was Yingtao who had sought Mushu out.  
"Did you hear it yet? Is it true?"  
"Yeah," Mushu answered, more brightly than had been necessary.  
As he watched the men leave a look of pride reflected on his features.  
"Ping is a guardian. He'll be fine!"  
And beside Mushu's hidden worries for his friend and mentor, he couldn't deny that it felt good to have Cherry by his side again.

Marking the tough woman Yingtao forced a smile upon her face, even as she couldn't keep a tear from rolling down her cheek.  
"If you say so," she admitted; "I hope it must be true."  
The dragoness had always appeared so strong; yet now, when Mushu glanced at his side, she seemed so frail and broken, as though she might crumble away the very second he left her side. Instead of wriggling his tail around her again, this time his arm moved out and put itself around her shoulders, pulling her towards him; and she didn't resist.  
Really, there was nothing more that Ping could have taught him, and now that the tall dragon was gone, Mushu felt ready enough to take on the world. He'd established his strength, improved his cunning – and found his reason.  
"You're not alone, Cherry."  
"I know," she choked, wiping that cursed water from her eye.  
Mushu smiled and comfortingly rubbed over her back. He was a guardian, and he wouldn't let her crumble, not with him around. If he took care of one more or one less now, it surely wouldn't make a difference; and with Deng's attitude lately, certainly not to him.

-  
The mentioned soldier had remained utterly silent for the rest of the day, trying to distract himself by training the pathetically few leftovers of their once large group. Only one of his friends had stayed to aid him. The other two and the Captain decided to leave. This situation left Deng with some sort of responsibility after all, even if he hadn't thought it possible when Mushu had brought the topic up back then.  
The soldier couldn't deny that he felt rather awkward with the new situation.  
For the first time in weeks Deng wondered where the little critter was, now that he might actually need him.  
"Day off," Deng announced and tossed his weapon to the ground. Without turning back to look at the rather dazzled group the soldier set off towards his tent – talking himself into believing that the rookies just needed a break after all the stress and that they'd be fine tomorrow.  
The soldier didn't even take into consideration that the problems might only derive from one single overstrained 'Vice'.

When Deng threw open the flap of the tent he found it empty.

Mushu had lead Yingtao to the top of a little hill where they could look out over the entire camp. The glistening stars mocked them both, making them feel small, even more so than they already knew about their size. The shape of the moon reminded them of how little time there was left until Mushu as well had to go; thus he had decided to spend some quality time with Cherry before he wouldn't have the chance to anymore. The two dragons had known each other now for about half a month and conversation had become far less difficult than in the beginning. Thinking back to that time gave both of them good laughs and distracted them from the future that was to come. By now they had actually reached a level at which Yingtao would consider the little red dragon someone special. Someone special who indeed had been right, even beyond her.  
She was not alone.  
And she was thankful for that.  
-

Day 30

When Mushu had arrived back at their tent, Deng had been there sleeping already; so with all the stress around lately the guardian decided to take a little rest himself.  
However, when the dragon woke up the next day, his guarded one was gone.  
Mushu peeked out of the tent, and slowly, carefully, made his way out. It was still rather early, the rest of the camp was still dreaming and dusk still covered the fields.  
The dragon wasn't entirely sure what had woken him, but as he got closer to the source he was sure that it must have been that noise. Somewhere between the training area and the rice field he finally found Deng – beating up a tree.  
The poor tree.

Mushu's ears drooped at the sight. Deng's exterior looked so self-assured and tough, yet on the inside the dragon could feel that his guarded one was breaking apart.  
He drowsily wandered over and placed himself next to his guarded one, at a safe distance where he wouldn't himself be kicked by chance.  
"Who are you fighting against?" the little dragon asked.  
"The enemy," the soldier grunted and dealt a new blow.  
Mushu nodded and let his guarded one go on for a little while, until Deng stopped on his own, exhausted.

"We should go after them," he announced; standing there stock-still, his hands clenched into tight fists.  
"We will, soon enough," Mushu assured him. He couldn't deny that he was rather impatient himself.  
Deng had buried his fist in the broken wood of the tree, his head low and his breathing tense.  
"I hate to be responsible."  
Mushu's ear flapped up. So this was it; what this was all about?  
"Did the Captain…?"  
"I'm supposed to prepare the leftover rookies for emergency and then catch up with them."  
While the soldier spoke, the dragon had climbed up on top of his shoulder, slightly knocking the top of his guarded one's skull.  
"He _entrusts_ you with them."  
Deng growled and turned away.  
"Because he _trusts_ you!" the dragon urged further.

There was an awkward silence in the air. The soldier didn't know how much time had passed when Mushu gripped his cheeks firmly, forcing Deng's head around to glance at the dragon.  
"You've done this before, and you've done it well! It's all cool as long as you don't lose your head over it, all clear?"  
Deng glanced around and before he could agree or disagree, the dragon had slipped away into his collar, revealing a few of the trainees walking over from their tents. The soldier blinked at them, his forehead still buried in the forearm that was leaned against the tree. As one of the rookies approached him, Deng took a more noble and awake position.  
"Soldier Wang, reporting for duty."  
The first in command of the troop turned away, contemplating.  
"Let's get this show on the road," a voice out of his shirt whispered, and Deng straightened up a little further.  
"Put away the training gear, Wang, and go tell the others. We're doing something special today!"

-  
The soldiers had gathered on the training plaza in a circle and were, for a change, unarmed. Deng stood in the middle of them all, his arms crossed behind his back. He closed his eyes, taking the situation in and letting out a breath that he was fully aware of holding for a long time. He'd never hoped to be assigned with this task, he'd rather move out to the front and fight alongside his companions; and if he died, he would die in honor.  
But no, he had to be assigned to clean up all the mess.

"Soldiers!" Deng's voice called far over the hills.  
Even Yingtao peeked from the rice-fields and went to get a higher spot where she could watch.

"What you are going to learn today is of great importance. It might in fact be more essential than the fighting skills you have achieved."  
Well, what you could call skills. Deng was left with the weak links of the chain, who looked up to him in awe.  
"What I'm going to teach you today should be remembered fast and well. We are moving out tomorrow, so pay good attention!"  
A few soldiers bumped their elbows into their neighbours' ribs, winking at each other. They were the real force after all, the backup.  
"What you are going to learn today…" Deng started again, his voice decreasing in volume.  
"Is first aid."

This not being exactly what they had expected the group gasped simultaneously. Deng waved one of the soldiers over to him.  
"Wang," he then instructed; "Lie down please, I need you playing a victim for demonstration."  
Still as the soldier walked over, another rookie raised his voice.  
"But don't we have doctors for this kind of stuff?"  
Mushu, this time still below Deng's shirt, flinched. This was in fact a question he'd asked himself upon his guarded one's unexpected declaration.  
"We're not talking simple check-up here!" Deng called out; "We're going into a battlefield. Chances are high that our doctors might not be there in time."

The crowd drowned in silence as Deng spun around, to glance at each and every one of who was left. At their age he hadn't thought any different, but the years he'd served in the army already had taught him otherwise. He'd learned from some of the medics voluntarily. It wasn't usual for a soldier to be gifted with healing abilities, yet Deng had never regretted this knowledge.  
"What you are going to learn today," he completed his reasoning; "is how to save lives."

* * *

_-  
Trivia: _For this chapter, there is a deleted scene about an alternative version with Mushu and Yingtao. It is available on the Mulan board and deviantart. However, I decided to leave the scene like this in the end because it made a great 'dramatic silence' ^^_  
_


	7. Period 6 :: Blood

"Things are a little stressed right now for everyone, but I have a feeling they will get worse before this is over." - Bookworm Gal

((AN: The following chapter contains graphic gore and almost had the story rated M. If you cannot handle blood I ask you to either skip this chapter or to stop after "Day 39"))  
**  
Period 6 – Blood **

Day 39

The journey had been long and tiresome, the soldiers quiet and partly uninspired. Even Mushu had fallen silent the last few days.  
When they left he didn't have a chance to tell Cherry goodbye.

The feeling when he stood on the hill, scanning over the empty rice-field came back to him over and over again.  
He might not ever see her again.

Right at that moment the soldiers were putting up all that was necessary for a little break since everyone was sapless and tired. They had chosen a clearing behind a forest they had just passed, because resting inside the forest would have been too dangerous, after what Deng said.  
'A forest would be a perfect place for the enemy to ambush a group of rookies.'Even if he didn't mean anything by it – at least so Mushu believed – the rookie remark had put the soldiers down. There they had trained so hard and still didn't gain the respect they wanted so badly, however, Deng had a point. He was an Old-timer in this business and to him, all these soldiers were just little kids that weren't supposed to be in the army in first place.

Deng sat down, leaning against a rock that had been warmed by the sun. The air was rather chilly so it felt good for the first moment. Yet soon, the stone grew cold from his shadow as well.

Mushu waddled over to him and kicked some of the fallen leaves around. It proved a fabulous distraction from his worries. The dragon expected other soldiers to mistake him for a gush of wind, so he wasn't all too careful. Besides, the color of the leaves made an excellent camouflage for him.  
His protégé glanced down at the dragon, who was slowly moving away. He shook his head at the little dragon. He too was still a kid after all, how many years he may have lived already – the behaviour spoke for itself.

Grumbling, the soldier observed his guardian for a little longer until he decided that Mushu was driving too far off and called him back.  
"Mushu," he voiced, low enough for no one to hear him, but the dragon's ears to catch him. The guardian immediately scurried over to Deng and then sat down next to him.  
"Yeah?"  
"Don't get lost." Deng answered, turning away disinterested. Mushu threw a bunch of leaves at him, to get the soldier's attention. When Deng made eye contact with his guardian he found him frowning up at him.  
"What is it?" the soldier snapped.  
"Stop pulling down the mood!" Mushu exclaimed, pointing at the crowd, without letting his eyes off from Deng, who raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of topic.  
"Can't you see that you're only wearing them down? There's a thing called morale, you know!"  
The soldier grumped and then went to search for something in his bag. He pulled out some fruit and started to eat, completely ignoring the little critter.

Mushu just shook his head at his guarded one and glanced back down at the leaves, kicking them again with a now frustrated intention and then slopped down to the ground. Why in the world did the ancestors have to bond him up with such a cold-hearted jerk?  
He surely would have to give them the talk about that, once he had lead Deng safely back home again.

"They'll thank me for it," Deng pointed out.  
"I doubt that," Mushu countered.  
"Do you have family, Mushu?"  
The dragon's ears flapped up as he raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question. And then, his mind wandered back to Yingtao – who was gone.  
"No," he answered, disappointment in his voice.  
The soldier gave him a quizzical glare before he went on.  
"Well, these soldiers do," Deng then elaborated. "They have someone waiting for them, to come home to."  
Unintentionally the guardian's tail had wrapped around his legs defensively, as he tensed up at Deng's smart-aleck words. He then felt a soft bump in his back that made him glance back at his guarded one, who pointed out into the crowd.

"You can't deny that any one of them can only barely hold a sword."  
Mushu silently turned to glance over the soldiers. Well yeah, they were losers, so what?  
"I want all of them to make it home safely."  
The dragon tensed up at Deng's words to a level that was hurting already, before his ears dropped and he lowered himself humbly.  
Maybe Deng had a point there after all.  
"Every day, I wonder how my wife is doing," the soldier rambled on.  
Mushu tilted his head.  
Maybe… _maybe_ he had made the wrong statement before.  
"And I worry I might not come back to tell her I love her."  
Mushu's ears twitched as he flinched at these words.

"But…" the dragon interjected, climbing up on Deng's lap. "That's what I'm here for."  
Deng smiled weakly and rubbed the guardian over his head.  
"What can you do?"  
The dragon fell silent for a moment. He wasn't a bodyguard, he was a guardian – and even so.

"You'd be dead without me already."

Settling the conversation with this, the dragon turned away and was about to walk off before Deng could respond. The soldier on the other hand was faster and gripped the dragon by his tail, pulling him back and lifting him up in the air.  
"What are you getting at, _lizard_?"  
"You know what I'm talking about!"  
Angered, the soldier started to toss the dragon around in midair. Mushu barely had a chance to grasp what Deng was up to when it started and no matter what he tried, lifted by his tail, the dragon was at Deng's mercy.  
And Mushu already knew from the training that mercy was a foreign word for his guarded one

After what felt like an eternity for Mushu the soldier stopped, still glaring at the dragon who shakily tried to cover up his mouth and fought away some burps. He'd grown a little… pale around the face and looked as if he was about to hurl, so Deng dropped the reptile disgustedly.  
Mushu ungracefully landed on the floor and tried to pull himself up again.  
"Dishonor!" was all the dragon's hoarse voice could shake up.  
How he missed Ping in situations like this.

Deng stood up and went away, leaving the dragon on the dirty ground.  
"We're moving out!" he called and the troop moaned simultaneously.  
Mushu fought to get back on his feet, so that Deng wouldn't get away from him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the dragon feared that his guarded one was aiming exactly for that, and it gave him a sick feeling in his stomach in addition to the one he had already experienced.

Just as Mushu had climbed back onto Deng's shoulders, the soldier flicked him back down to the ground.  
"How about you go and find us some provisions before we leave?"

The dragon could fully well read between the lines.  
"Fine then, have at it," Mushu growled after his guarded one, who was again walking away.  
The red reptile had never really liked Deng anyway, and when he died, so be it. The dragon turned around to head back into the forest.

After a little while of walking some rather shrill noises echoed through the woods. From a tree, Mushu felt the eyes of an owl pierce him. When the bird took off, the guardian hastily turned direction.  
"You know on a second thought…" the dragon began, when he reached the former camp-station. He couldn't finish his second thought however for the troop had already left.  
The guardian stood there for a moment, dazed and perplexed before he sat down, his tail flicking uneasily.

Deng had been serious.

In the next instant Mushu found himself lifted from the floor.  
Not by a pair of warm human hands that indicated the dragon might have been played a prank on, but rough cold owl claws that indicated the dragon might end up as a dinner.  
Mushu might have had a tasty name, yet he was not meant to be eaten, and confusing a dragon with a lizard had always been a fatal mistake to make.

-  
Deng rode on, enjoying the newfound freedom he had. A sudden noise in the air caught his attention. The troop had just departed from a forest, so they should have left all the animals behind. The soldier curiously glanced up at the sky and found…  
Mushu riding a bird of prey.  
The owl had underestimated the little flame that still burned within the tiny reptile, and the fact that the little guy might have been devastated, but still determined; and thus the animal had complied quickly after the first threat the dragon had given.

The guardian jumped off from the bird and safely landed on Deng's horseback, waving the owl off thankfully. Instead of flying away the bird seated itself on a rock and watched the soldiers pass by, who didn't seem to pay the unfitting animal any mind.  
"Some guardian you are," Deng grunted. His disapproval of Mushu's appearance was hard to ignore. "I thought you'd be here by now."  
The dragon raised a sceptical eyebrow at his guarded one, but bit his tongue to avoid being tossed away a second time.  
"Did you at least bring some supplies?"

Mushu chucked a nut at Deng's head.

-  
Day 42

The whole troop gawked at this sight in terror, sending silent prayers to the inhabitants of the village. To the soldiers it felt as if they just had passed through the gateway to hell.  
Deng gripped his reins tightly.  
"It's time to practice what you've learned."  
He dismounted from the horse and made the first step.

Mushu crawled out of Deng's collar to take in the view. The sight of this made the usually spunky dragon cringe and tense around his guarded one's neck. Deng couldn't help but notice his guardian's distress, so at the very least he would try his best to remain calm; even if it was hard, over and over again.  
The soldier had just taken a look around a corner and given up hope when his guardian pinched him in the cheek. The dragon's ears stood right up in an alert fashion and he pointed silently towards a smoking ruin.  
Pieces of the building were scattered across the blood-drenched ground and against the remains of the wall lay a woman, whimpering and moaning in agony. She held something clutched inside of her arms protectively, like a precious treasure.

Deng's pulse rose and he sped over to the still fairly young woman, falling to his knees as he examined her body. Her skin, as the clothing, was covered in crimson, not-yet-dried blood and you could only tell the color of her by now snow-white skin from a single untouched spot – her left ear.  
Mushu's ears twitched at the noises she made. When Deng touched her, the woman suddenly screamed out, pressing whatever she held even closer to herself. The blood in the fabric caused awkward squishing noises.

"My baby!" she howled, "My baby!" Fresh tears were streaming down her cheeks and smearing the blood. Deng backed away. As the woman lost her strength from the outburst the thing she held flapped back and the cloths opened, revealing the content.  
It was a dead newborn.

Mushu felt his heart skip a beat as he glanced at the smashed-in skull of the infant. It was most likely hit by the debris as the house was torn down.  
"My baby!" the woman screamed again, pulling it close to her helplessly heaving chest.  
"Your baby is fine," Deng whispered in a calm and soothing voice. The dragon's ears perked up at his guarded one's lie, however the woman restricted herself to wild sobbing.

The soldier sighed and gave the procedure a second try. He looked the woman over. Her clothing was shredded on the right side and had burn marks all over. Deng tore a part of his clothes away and carefully dabbed the blood away from her face. She continued to whimper but otherwise appeared to have calmed down. All of the crying must have worn her out; but then she had every reason to.  
"How do you feel?" he asked, but the woman remained unresponsive. When Deng had more or less cleaned her forehead some new blood trailed down her cheek. The soldier frowned and carefully shoved away the long black hair to reveal a deep fleshy cut around her ear that had been covered before. The woman cried out in pain for a moment. The dragon took in a sharp breath as the gash reopened.

Deng, who had so far stayed calm and steady, flinched away in horror and in the progress almost ripped off the woman's already loose ear. The dragon toppled back and watched his guarded one grow pale. The soldier then cradled the woman quite roughly and began to bind the wound with the cloth. He then lowered her to the ground in a lying position; the baby had plopped out of her limp hands in the process.  
Mushu didn't want to remain passive, and help instead, yet he could solely watch Deng as he attempted to wake up the woman that had fallen unconscious. The dragon knew what to do in such a situation – yet he couldn't remember it. He'd had a blackout.

Deng contemplated what to do. With a head wound like this he couldn't proceed with the chin lift maneuver, however, there was nothing else he could do.  
After the first resuscitation attempt, Deng spat out a load of blood that had collected within her mouth, apparently because he'd put her out of the sitting position.

"Mushu!" The dragon perked up and immediately scurried over to his guarded one. "Get our doctor!" Deng yelled, but Mushu remained unresponsive, so the soldier flicked him to the ground.  
"What's wrong with you?"  
The dragon swallowed the lump in his throat.  
"I'm sorry," Mushu whispered, towards the thin air; then he turned towards Deng, a stern expression written on his face.  
"She's dead."

For a moment, the wind carried her echo through the town.  
_"My baby…"_  
Deng dropped the lifeless body and bent his head in a prayer.  
_"Where is my baby…?"_  
The soldier looked up upon the voice of his guardian.  
"I'll find it!"

The dragon seemed all around determined, his eyes fixed on a misty spot of air. They then wandered over to Deng who sat himself in a straight kneeling position, awaiting his guardian's next move.  
"Excuse me, Deng," he said eventually. "I'll be back."  
Without awaiting the soldier's response the guardian marched off at a tense pace, every now and again turning around, looking behind – not at Deng, but just as if he expected someone to follow him.

-  
After a while the dragon came to a halt and turned around.  
"Is it… this one?"  
The ghost closed her eyes and shook her head.  
Mushu shrugged and went on walking.

While the chaos had broken out in the city the young mother had escaped rather far away from their home, and now that she had passed on she needed a guardian to guide her home. Going after his reaction to the girl's situation, Mushu had been sure that Deng wouldn't mind this little procrastination. And Deng, in fact, had followed them secretly.

The dragon stopped again at another ruin that was hoarding spirits of a past gone crowd, but yet again the ghost shook her head.  
"Are we even heading the right way?"  
The dragon didn't go on from there and instead turned to examine the ghost and the surroundings. He spotted Deng.  
His tail flicked uneasily and all he could manage to bring out was "Oh."

The soldier gave him a quizzical look, Mushu turned to look at air again and then turned towards his guarded one.  
"We're searching for her ancestor shrine."  
Deng raised an eyebrow.  
"We?"  
Even though Mushu knew that his guarded one couldn't see ghosts, he was thrown off by Deng's sudden coldness.  
"It's called salvation!" the dragon hissed with a frown.  
The soldier grumped at the tone his guardian was bringing on.  
"Fine, have it at that." Mushu crossed his arms, and tapped his foot rather angrily. Now Deng couldn't save her body, but the dragon would at least save her soul, he'd be her SOS. With a tilted head he glanced up at the woman.  
"Let's go, dear."

After a while the silent woman stopped and pointed at a crowd ahead that floated above a ruin. A weak smile appeared on Mushu's face.  
"That's it?"  
The old people's spirits blocked the view, yet a baby's cry resounded through the air. The woman's ghost choked up as joyful tears dropped down her cheek. Where they landed on the ground, a little blade of grass popped up. Being too focused on the passed-on ones, Mushu hadn't realized that the ghost of the young lady had bent down to him, until she gave him a peck on the forehead.  
Stunned for a moment, the dragon looked up at her. He gave her a warm smile and then motivated her to go. Mushu already had a guarded one to attend to, his job here was done.  
As the woman floated over, the dragon remained where he was, nodding in silence.

Deng hunkered down and poked his guardian. Giving him the desired attention, Mushu crawled up on Deng's hand and scurried towards the collar again, where he hid for the rest of the day.

In the evening, the division had gathered again. Some of Deng's comrades had found survivors, yet they were dauntingly few. The soldiers led them into the carriage where their doctor would give them the needed attention.  
As they were going to leave the village behind, Mushu popped out of his guarded one's shirt again, giving the place his last farewell.  
"What does such a thing?" he asked, obviously referring to the torn down buildings. This was not the work of a sword.  
"An explosion," Deng answered rather calmly. His view swept over the left-behind battlefield as well. Several Chinese cannoneers had been decapitated, their guns presumably stolen and used against themselves. The soldier frowned. These weapons had not been invented too long ago; there was no possible way that the enemy could have known how to use them!

Unless… Mushu had been right about the mole.

* * *

_-  
Trivia:_  
"The night just escaped an almost hiatus.  
And it was saved by...

A bird ~

Now let your imatination run wild."  
- levy120, December 21, 2009

DUN DUN DUUUUN. Foreboding.  
Anybody who guessed Samiel; you win a cookie.


	8. Period 7 :: Betrayal

"You seem to portray her as a nice person but in the end she will break Mushu's heart. I wonder how you will pull it off without making her lose her credibility" - Imyourfreakingprincess

**Period 7 – Betrayal **

Day 44

The men had a hard time of banishing the recent events to the back of their minds. However hard they tried, the pictures of devastation kept creeping back into their haunted heads, fogging over their sanity.  
"I think they're heading for my hometown now," one of the soldiers babbled.  
"I think they already were in mine," another one panicked, but even if most of them didn't show it, everyone was sending silent prayers to their families.  
Inside the carriages the doctors were attending to the villagers, one of them had already passed away.  
The silence hanging over the men was disturbing and the little dragon felt as if he'd be squished by lead. Mushu hung flat over the guarded one's shoulders. The only sign of life you could get from him was his tail flicking every now and again.  
Deng himself didn't bother to join his team in their mourning,  
…even if he had spotted one of his friends among the victims.

Above the group lightning flashed by, catching Mushu's attention. Only now did the dragon manage to push himself up. His tail flicked uneasily as he held his hand out, expecting rain, yet nothing came. In the distance however the lightning reappeared with a twist. Only this time the flash had appeared rather… blue-ish and as Mushu squinted his eyes together he could spot a dragon squirming up in the sky.  
The little guardian tensed up and jumped on Deng's head who only gave him a bewildered frown. Mushu ignored that though and began to wave his hands around, sending tiny fireballs up in the air to gain the dragon's attention and to avoid that of the soldiers, by not screaming out Ping's name. For a moment the blue dragon froze and then piloted towards the little red critter.

He remained hovering low above them, wearing a relieved expression.  
"Bless the ancestors, you're alright!"  
"We are, kind of," Mushu responded. "What about you? What happened there?"  
"Ambush," Ping panted and then swooped down to land on top of the carriage's roof. "They surprised us, you ought to be careful."  
Deng glanced up at his guardian, who was holding one of those strange monologues again. However, this time he couldn't help but think there was something more behind all of it.  
"How is Wu?" Deng asked reflexively. He didn't really know what made him ask, but right now he didn't pay it any mind.  
"The captain…" Ping trailed off, bowing his head.  
Mushu gulped.  
"Y- You let that happen?"  
The blue dragon fixed his eyes on Mushu, calm and reasonable.  
"There are some things even a guardian can't stop from happening, Mushu. But we can make their deaths honorable."  
The red critter blinked disbelieving, his jaw almost hitting the top of Deng's helmet.

-  
"Hey!" a voice from the front called, ripping Mushu out of his shattered illusion.  
"It's Jian!"

Ping looked up, his whiskers lashing around as he fought back a growl. A few of the men immediately sprinted forward to check for the survivor – Deng among them.  
"Wait!" Ping still called after them, but by then Mushu couldn't convince his guarded one to stop anymore.  
A few of the soldiers went to give their former trainer support, though he refused the aid.  
"I'm fine," Deng's friend insisted, carefully prying the helpers off.  
"How did you survive the assault?" another one questioned.  
Jian merely shrugged. "I guess I was lucky."  
While everyone listened carefully to Jian's story, something in the distance had whistled. Mushu turned his head and spotted Ping waving him over. The red dragon, following his mentor's order, silently scurried over. Deng, he believed, would be safe within that crowd, and besides, this was really not the moment to throw boots.  
"I want you to keep an eye on Jian," Ping said with a strange rumble in his voice. "He's a traitor."  
Mushu glanced back to get a glimpse of Deng and then snapped his fingers.  
"Oh, I _knew_ it!"  
And then, Deng himself stepped forward to the man. The little guardian excused himself and hurried to catch up with Deng, crawling up under his shirt over the legs.

"Deng?" Mushu tried to get his attention, but failed.  
His guarded one went face to face with his former friend, took a deep breath and put his chest high and proud.  
"Hello, Jian," he said with a tune a little darker than would have been necessary.  
"Hello, Deng," the survivor did him the same after he had advised the other soldiers to stay back.  
"A lot of people died back there," Deng mentioned solemnly, nodding back to where his troop had come from. He didn't need a little dragon's advice to put two and two together, "Where are the others?" the Fa then questioned.  
"All gone…" Jian purred, drawing his sword.

The next thing Mushu heard was metal rattling against metal.  
"You turncoat!" Deng yelled and – with his blade raised – stormed towards the former friend again, who blocked the assault.  
Jian merely gave him a cold smile over the crossed swords. "This is war, my friend."  
While Deng gave another blow that was dodged, Mushu used the opportunity to crawl out of his hiding place, so he would be ready in case something happened.  
"My," the opponent mocked, "You fight like a dairy farmer."  
"How appropriate!" Deng grunted, repelling the traitor; "You fight like a cow!"  
Mushu positioned himself upon the ground in standby and whistled, impressed by his guarded one's counterattack.

The fight went on for a few more minutes, both of the contestants equally matched. To the dragon it appeared like an eternity that passed him by. Mushu, feeling squirrelly, followed every movement of the fight, yet the guardian was rooted to the spot by his overgrowing excitement and fear.  
There wasn't much he could do now anyway… and Mushu knew that _if_ he tried anything, Deng would never forgive him for not letting him handle this alone.  
All too well the dragon could already see the mental lecture in his head, about honor and all that crud.

And then...  
Metal on flesh.

"Deng!" Mushu hurried over to him in no time, "Deng! Deng, are you alright?"  
The soldier struggled to get back up when directly next to Mushu a sword hit the ground, causing the dragon to jerk up.  
"You again?" the traitor hissed, raising his sword in order to chop off the ostensible lizard's head. While killing off Deng had been Jian's job, his issues with the little reptile were personal.  
Mushu's ears popped up in alert as he slowly, carefully moved backwards, to cover up Deng in a pathetic last attempt to do something.  
For a moment the tightness on Jian's sword loosened up a bit and a cold smirk grew on his face.  
"I see," he hissed approvingly and went to make a stab for Deng instead.  
Mushu, expecting the worst, closed his eyes shut and pressed himself closely next to his guarded one, just so he would know that his protégé was still there and not leaving. Not dissolving just around him as his soul would drive towards the other side.

The stab never came.  
A low grunt from above caused Mushu's ears to twitch and the dragon glanced up to see what caused this delay of their doom.

"Ping!"  
The blue dragon had shown himself, snarling and growling at the traitor, while the blade of the latter's sword was tightly caught in-between Ping's eagle-claws.

Jian didn't really seem impressed by the gigantic dragon and merely growled back, forcing his sword back out of the dragon's talons. Ping squirmed in the air, protectively hovering over Deng and his guardian, the last remains of his own guarded one's – bless his soul – dearest friends.  
Awestruck, Mushu still gazed up at his friend. Ping truly was a hero, no matter how humble he might think himself to be all the time. The tiny dragon was a little worried when his much bigger idol streamed out of his field of vision. In addition, Jian didn't seem to be running away in fear at all, and instead tried to attack them a second time. However, as he struck, Ping dove back into the fight and averted the danger. Mushu flinched with guilt at seeing that his best friend took the hits for him, so – deciding to make himself useful – the tiny guardian quickly separated from Deng and disappeared into the crowd.  
A yelp could be heard from out there that woke up some of the men who had been mentally caught in the struggle just like Mushu had been not too long ago. Fully realizing what was going on, a few of them moved towards Deng to take care of his wounds, while Ping was fighting the traitor back.  
The red reptile emerged out of the group and watched with an approving nod as Deng was pulled away from the battlefield. Then Mushu made his way over to Jian, climbed up his legs and disappeared beneath his shirt. In no time, the soldier had lost his focus on Ping and was thrown over by the big dragon. Smoke and burn marks spread across the fabric of his armor as the soldier rolled around on the floor, desperately smacking himself, and flinching every now and again with yelps. It was a hilarious spectacle to watch until the pained noises had stopped and the soldier lay there on his back, panting exhausted, but pleased.  
Ping pulled back, distress mirrored in his eyes as he looked over the fields to see if he missed Mushu getting out of there at some point.  
There was no sign of the little critter anywhere.

It was then that Jian pulled out a limp little reptile and tossed it at the blue dragon, who caught it safely inside his cut hands. The turncoat surveyed the battleground to find that his opponent was already surrounded by a bunch of soldiers aiding him. As much fail as Deng's troop might have been, right now Jian preferred a tactical retreat. They would meet again at some point anyway.  
No one cared that he was gone.

Ping's gaze moved over to Deng, who was currently being treated by the doctor and his trainees. A warm complimentary smile grew on the dragon's face as he turned back to observe the little lizard in his palms.  
The smile faded. He'd told him to stay back so often by now.  
One of Ping's thumbs carefully crossed Mushu's yellow chest-plates as he examined the dragon.  
"He pulled a number on you, my friend," the blue dragon mourned and floated a little afar, hiding himself from the troop. He kept his watchful eyes on the soldiers as the dragon in his hands twitched.  
"But, I show'd him, didn' I?"  
His mentor gave a sound of appreciation and put the dragon down to the ground, where Mushu attempted to get back on his feet on his own. The dragon then noticed streaks of blood on his body and jerked up in terror, examining himself.  
"I didn't know I was that badly…" -no, he wasn't.  
The red guardian glanced up at his tall friend who realized what the smaller was covered in and shyly pulled his claws away.  
"Don't worry about it," he said.  
Mushu frowned with concern as his friend flew away again, obviously escaping the upcoming argument. The guardian's ears and shoulders drooped simultaneously at the sudden departure of his friend, but soon Mushu turned around to glance at the group of soldiers taking care of his guarded one. They'd been victorious, yes, but at a price.  
-

Day 47

The journey had been long and Deng had been bitter about the incident with his best friend. It really didn't help that Mushu had been talking all the way about how right he had been from the very start and that Deng better have listened to him. The dragon ended up getting tossed down a lot, but he always wound up coming back to lecture his guarded one in how to treat your dragon and then went on with the rambling about how awesome he was. At some point, Deng went deaf towards Mushu.  
"…and that, my friend, is why… hey, Deng! Deng! Are you listening?"  
No response.  
Mushu grumped and crossed his arms, turning to face the other direction and coolly leaning against his guarded one's neck. If he'd only had a cowboy hat and a blade of grass now, yes that would have been the picture – _pew, pew_!  
Oh well, it was Deng's bad luck. He'd always told him that rejecting the guardian – and especially a lucky one like him – was bringing bad luck. And Mushu indeed was lucky, for he had – due to Deng's rejection – found a friend on his own. A good friend who had returned for him, a good friend who would never, never ever ever, betray him. Because he had just the people skills his guarded one was lacking. Yup.  
And it was Deng's loss alone – definitely his loss.

At some point the soldiers had set up the camp and Deng had thrown Mushu out of the tent for the night, like a mangy mutt. The dragon merely grouched at this act, not getting why his guarded one was behaving like that.  
The guardian crawled up a tree and made himself comfortable between the branches. From up there he had a good view over the whole area. The troop had chosen a neat location actually, sited between their road and a river. A few trees were scattered across the place, but you couldn't call it a forest. In the distance Mushu could recognize some mountains, but no villages whatsoever. And if there was one, Jian had probably burned it down already anyway.

Some of his colleagues were walking around on the ground and next to the river stood a guardian that looked pretty similar to Yingtao. Mushu thought he might have missed her more than was healthy when he did a double-take and found that it actually _was_ Yingtao. The dragon slid down the tree and walked over to her, just to prove to himself that she wasn't some sort of hallucination.  
"Cherry?"  
She turned around and Mushu's face lit up.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked, a big smile planted on his face. He was so overexcited about seeing her again.  
She merely chuckled and tilted her head.  
"Oh well," she started with a shrug; "Since the last troop of soldiers left, my guarded one wasn't in any need of protection anymore. I've been hiding in that carriage over there."  
Now that made sense, even to Mushu.  
"That's awesome!" he blurted out. "Hey," he poked her, "When the war is over, how about if we hang out for a bit, huh?" He made his offer clear with a little wink.  
Yingtao folded her hands together, shrugging, unusually reticent.  
"Hanging out…" she said rather hesitantly adding a mental 'just' to it, "sounds fine, yes."  
Mushu skillfully overlooked the doubt in her voice. After leaving the boot camp without a chance to say goodbye, the guardian thought he would never see her again. However he tried his hardest to appear calm to the situation.  
"You know, I've got tonight off," Mushu said, pointing behind him with a smile Yingtao couldn't really interpret. She slightly yelped when his tail curled around her waist and hastily tried to pry it off.  
"I- I can't! I'm washing my hair tonight!" She then pulled away from the dragon, glanced back at him and walked off a little faster than was necessary as Mushu was left behind in confusion.  
"What?" he called after her as she departed; "What is it about this _hygiene_?"  
She just came back for him, so why would she run out on him now because of some stupid girly habit?  
Oh, Ancestors, why was the woman-mind so complicated? Did you have to tell them everything so they would acknowledge the truth?  
"You can't get enough of me and you know it!"

Apparently she didn't.

When Yingtao didn't come back, Mushu's self-esteem vanished immediately. The dragon felt as though he had missed his last chance, so he scurried over to the tent she had disappeared behind. Every now and again he stopped on his way, looked around, scared of something. He hadn't bothered to think of anything to say, so when he blindly darted around the tent and clung to the first scaly thing that came across him, the words simply began to rattle off:  
"I'm so sorry, I never had the courage to tell you! But you are wonderful! You are unique! You are the nicest person I ever got to know! I love you and I will always keep loving you!"  
"Uhm… Mushu…"  
The dragon looked up at the familiar but MALE voice.  
"Uh oh…"  
"I need to talk with you."  
It was Ping. Mushu glanced down to see what he was actually clinging to. Despite matching Yingtao's whole body, it appeared to be Ping's single leg. Well, this was awkward. He quickly, and slightly disgustedly, pulled away from it, shoving some nonexistent dust from his body.

Ping pulled his claw back up again, readjusting the bandage that was now covering it.

"It's not what it loo- sounds like," Mushu spoke up while his friend was busy.  
"Oh," the blue dragon stated with a laugh, "Taking back such nice words; and there I thought…"  
"Positively NOT!" the red guardian barked back to notice that Yingtao was peeking out from her little hideout.  
"Cherry…" his voice had taken a rough twist from the offended growl to a soft whine as Mushu attempted to approach the dragoness, yet Ping's hand kept coming in the way.  
"Shouldn't you be with Deng? He's still wounded."  
"Oh, Deng is fine."  
The red dragon simply attempted to shove the claw aside, but it refused to give way. It all resulted in Mushu making use of his puppy eyes as he glanced up at his mentor in plea.  
"I'm sorry, Mushu," Ping stated dryly.

Yingtao by then had marched over to the two males.  
"You're a child, Mushu," she said, her voice calm and soothing. The dragoness immediately won back the little guardian's attention. "I don't know what's going on in that premature little head of yours, but I don't think I like it."  
"I'll be a _man_ once this mission is over!" he explained matter-of-factly, and proudly put his arms akimbo – The premature statement being skillfully ignored. His voice then tuned down again.  
"Why? Does it really matter?"

Yingtao just stood there and stared, before she gave a sigh and glanced up at Ping. And then the scales fell from Mushu's eyes.  
"No! You can't be _serious_!"  
He turned to face Ping, hoping he'd get _his_ side of the story, although Mushu wasn't all too sure he wanted to hear it.  
"Ping! Dude! What the… no! Just no!"  
He then turned back to Yingtao, his arms outstretched in panic.  
"He'd squish you!"  
The tall blue and the small pink dragon flinched away with a synchronized "ew…" and then turned back to glance at each other with rather lost expressions.  
"Why thank you, Mushu, I think I won't be able to eat anything for the next few days!" Ping retorted, a slight growl hidden in his voice.  
"You darn better be!" the red reptile agreed, waving his pointy finger around, "Cherry is my girl!"  
"Who said that?" the female now broke into the argument, "I see no Matchmakers around here anywhere!"  
"But I was here first!"  
"Turn it down a bit, the soldiers are sleeping!" Another guardian had walked up to them, but was quickly rejected by a threefold "GTFO!"

Showing a white feather of surrender the Rooster marched off again.  
Yingtao turned to face the red dragon again, now with an angry scowl.  
"I… I would take good care of you!" Mushu explained with the usage of hands and all he had got, "I would have taken you to the movies and all!"  
Yingtao sighed, the glare not wiping off from her face.  
"First off, cinemas aren't going to be invented until 1894."  
Mushu pulled back a little, twiddling his thumbs as the dragoness continued her reasoning.  
"Second, how are you going to take care of _me_? You cannot even take care of yourself, nor your guarded one!"  
The sudden urge to vindicate himself rose up in Mushu  
"Bu-"  
"Honey," she cut him off, the voice less stern this time. "Just drop it before you hurt yourself."  
Mushu remained still, pouting.

He couldn't take care of himself? Or Deng?  
Well, he would show her.  
"Okay, I get it," he snapped. "Two is company and three is a crowd."  
Ping faltered at the words and bowed down, attempting to calm his little friend, who continued to give him the cold shoulder.  
It was Yingtao's turn.

She more or less harshly grabbed his shoulders.  
"Mushu, sweetheart," her voice was stern, yet soothing. "You don't belong in a place like this. Turn around before it's too late."  
The dragon took a little while for the words to sink in, before he pulled away sharply from the female.  
"Why," he spoke up, "Why, oh why is just everyone on this ball assuming that I can't do this?"  
Yingtao pulled away, biting her lip.  
"Oh dear, that's not what I…"  
"Oh yes," Mushu insisted, "It is."

There was an unsettling silence looming in the air and all of a sudden Mushu bolted away, to a higher moral ground. Balancing back on his feet, the spines down his back flexed open in warning. Cracking his knuckles, the tiny dragon stamped up to Ping.  
"Yo, 'buddy'," he called. "Don't you wanna settle this issue like a MAN?"  
Ping, who had held back so far, raised a quizzical eyebrow. His little friend had lost it, snapped. Just like that. Didn't he know that he wouldn't stand a chance? Was he really that desperate?  
"Come on!" the tiny red dragon urged further; "Let's settle this outsi- forget about that! I can take you on anytime!"

As Mushu continued to jump around rather unnervingly Ping decided it was better for all of them if he would just end this foolish situation, and have them all cool down. With a disappointed sigh the tall blue one was about to take his leave – when a tiny fireball hit him in the back of the head. Quirking an eyebrow he turned around to glance down at Mushu.  
"Did you just-"  
Another fireball hit him straight in the face, forcing Ping to build himself up to his full size. Maybe THIS would give the dragon some self-awareness.  
"You're not getting away THAT easily!" Mushu called after him, apparently not noticing the immense size difference in his thrill. If he did, he played it off well.  
Ping just remained still, threateningly glaring down at the tiny rookie. Yingtao who stood next to him, trying to calm him down was completely zoned out of Mushu's head._  
A small dog will fight a big dog because it doesn't realize it's small. It's just another dog, and it's just a normal fight._  
The tall blue dragon had no intention to hurt his little friend, and before Mushu could provoke him any further he turned around again, dust already swirling from the ground to prepare his take off.  
"You limp noodle! Come back!"  
Ping stopped in his tracks, squeezing his eyes shut in a futile hope to tune out the sounds. Yingtao, noticing this, took a few steps back. Really, right now she wanted nothing more than just to sink into the ground.  
"Crouching tiger, hiding dragon, huh? Coward! Yellow belly!"  
In the flick of a second Ping had spun around and pinned the loud-mouthed dragon into the mud with one single claw, the other one, tapping along on Mushu's amber chest-scales.  
"I'd watch my words, 'buddy'."  
And before Mushu affected him with his intoxication, Ping rushed off into the night sky, leaving an aggravated, panting reptile behind.

"_This,_" the dragoness spat from behind Mushu's range of vision, "is exactly what I was talking about!"  
Ripped out of his berserk-mode Mushu turned his head to look at Yingtao, who seemed more than upset. With her arms akimbo she towered over him, however unlike what Mushu expected there was no deadly scowl present on her face. The little frown she had softened and the dragoness offered her red _friend_ a hand.  
"You cannot let your feelings get the better of you. Not at work, not at war – not in this line of profession."  
Mushu however rejected her offer and turned away with a huff.

Apparently you couldn't trust anyone, Mushu reckoned, as he lay there.  
No 'best friends', no 'guarded ones'.  
From now on, he'd be looking out for himself.

* * *

_Trivia:_  
Wohooo! The magic word is character development people. Mushu started out OOC in this fic on purpose, however it is hard to find a balance that will not scare your readers away before they know what's going on. I hope that kind of worked xD  
Bye Bye Loyal-Dog Mushu, HELLO selfishness. Poor Deng.

This chapter was one of the problem-chapters in the fic, mostly about Mushu's "flirting" attempts. I kept telling myself that it was alright and canon with a mantra of "With my eyes" but in the end I kept tuning it down with MORE insert-comedy, to make it look less "mature" and more "obnoxious".  
Monkey Island and Otto Waalkes. Because both rule xD


	9. Period 8 :: Anticipation

**Period 8 - Anticipation**

Day 48

Deng was awakened by a chipper dragon.  
"Morning, big boy. Ready for action?"  
The soldier pulled himself up and threw the little guardian off. Groaning he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glared down at Mushu, only to spot a weird red blur.  
"What's your problem? Don't you have some friends to bother?"  
"Doh, who needs them!" the dragon deflected and jumped upon Deng's shoulders. "It's time that we spent some quality time together again. That got kinda secondary lately. So what do you wanna do today?"  
"Move out," the soldier growled with a heavy frown.  
"Oh well, yeah that's that's way to be original there, you know…"  
"No! Move out! I wanna dress."  
Mushu was flicked off from Deng's shoulders and slid over the ground. He scowled at his guarded one, but decided to just play along and left the tent.

Not long after, Deng stepped out of it and with a final gesture pulled the belt of his armor shut.  
"I hope you slept well," he said rather calmly as he passed Mushu, who just glanced after his guarded one with a rather bemused demeanor.  
"I don't sleep!" Mushu interjected offended, and recited the _teaching_, "Humans are the most vulnerable during sleep and need their protection especially at night-time!"  
The soldier glanced down at his guardian and merely raised a quizzical eyebrow, while the dragon responded with a big and mostly genuine smile, soon forgetting about the in any case unintended offence.

"There's finally something happening, this is so exciting!" he exclaimed. "You know it's not like I had anything to do before!" the dragon remarked as he climbed up on Deng's shoulder yet again.  
The soldier tsked.  
"It's not like you get anything to do NOW."  
Mushu crossed his arms, taking it lightly.  
"You're a killjoy!" he mocked, taking Deng's retort as a joke.  
"Anyway; time to bring some honor now!" Mushu cheered and disappeared beneath Deng's shirt.

The soldier in charge had some news to spread, but instead of waking all of them, he showed patience and let the soldiers snooze for a little longer. The reliability of his men caused most of them to only sleep in for 10 more minutes and it was up to them then, to rip the black sheep out of their slumber.  
A little later everyone was up and standing in a row.

A happy little tune emitted from Deng's back as he marched before the men with a nod.  
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts…"  
Where it came from and what it meant was a mystery to the soldiers.  
Deng stopped and turned to look at his troop that proved to be complete.  
"Good morning, men!" he greeted them with false kindness in his voice. "I hope you all enjoyed your rest," he put with a smirk and a trustworthy nod, before his face turned usually stern, "It was the last one you had."  
There were slight gasps in the row and one of the lesser skilled soldiers spoke up.  
"Did we do something wrong?"

"No," Deng quickly comforted him, "But we need to move faster in order to help our fellow soldiers. If we don't – all you're going to find are more villages like those we left behind."  
The division muted and exchanged some uncomfortable glances.  
"Take your time to get ready, but hurry up once we're on the run."  
The enemy was dangerous, so they had to be swift. And it was time to make a point.  
_Motivational Speech!_

"They might rip off your nails!"  
The men anxiously tip-toed.  
"Or cut out your tongue."  
Immediately all mouths were closed tightly and impervious.  
"They might even… snip off your topknots and _marcel_ you."  
There were terrified gasps in the crowd.  
"Anyhow," Deng finished his little motivation speech, "You will all die."  
Mushu disapprovingly shook his head.  
"No, no, no!" the dragon protested, "This is not how you do it!"  
Knowing that his guarded one would yet again ignore him, the dragon jumped out of his hiding place and beat Deng over the head, who winced and rubbed his skull.  
"Just kidding, there's absolutely nothing to worry about!"  
Mushu rolled his eyes – as if anyone bought that.  
"There's gonna be hot chicks!" he called from Deng's neck, who was about to throttle the dragon, when the soldiers suddenly appeared… motivated again. Deng carefully removed his hand with a slight hiss towards the dragon.  
"We clear that later."

Deng faintly bowed his head to the men and then walked off calmly. He forced himself to keep this tranquil posture up and once he was definitely out of sight he stopped so abruptly that Mushu was slung around a bit. The dragon cautiously hid in Deng's collar, clenching his teeth together.

"What is wrong with you?" the soldier then exclaimed. "Do you think this is funny or something?"  
"Why, you could have maybe tried to laugh about it!" the dragon responded, still back to back to his guarded one, "You clearly need some distraction, pal!"  
Not even trying to let the dragon's point sink in, Deng immediately continued his rant.  
"You know they saw you!"  
"And so? They're sleeping with their eyes open!" his guardian vindicated himself, "Or did they shoot you yet?"  
Deng was about to retort something, but thought better of it and held in – just for the moment.  
"Just think before you act the next time," the soldier growled slightly and set the little reptile to the ground. Let that little critter walk back for all he cared – and with that Deng left, back into the direction they had come from.  
Mushu merely shrugged as he watched his guarded one return to the soldiers.  
At least he wouldn't talk inevitable death anymore.

The dragon then decided to go and put down Deng's tent, to prepare them for the departure ahead.

Later that day the division was back on track again. Deng had even been so generous as to offer his horse in case someone would break down from the marching. Of course this was after the dude in charge had received another boot to the head – a stoneless one this time – so Mushu practiced his guarded one's preaching from the first time and simply laughed at it, just to be smacked for it.

-  
Day 50 – Forenoon

"Just look at us!" Mushu rambled on as he sat lazily on Deng's shoulder, his tail swaying around relaxed; "Two lonely cowboys errant in the wilderness…"  
Deng merely raised an eyebrow at his guardian.  
"I think you're in the wrong _movie_."  
"No, seriously!" the dragon exclaimed and hastily scurried all over Deng's body until he reached the other shoulder; "What more could a happy single wish for?"  
"Did you get dumped or something like that?"  
Smack in the face.  
Mushu gave a rather weird chuckle, his posture immediately losing its élan as he wilted down like a thirsty flower.  
"Yeah, something like that."  
Deng gave an approving sound and glanced back at the road.  
"You had a patient catch there."  
Raising a questioning eyebrow the dragon felt his tail twitch, ready to _accidentally_ slap his guarded one in the face. That man was just lucky enough that his kind had this arranged marriage stuff, else he wouldn't have stood a chance in...  
Mushu's ear jerked up facing the course they were heading to.  
He then climbed on top of Deng's helmet to get a better view. Squinting his eyes he found some smoke up ahead.  
"Hey!" he called out, "I think we're almost there!"

It didn't take long for the soldiers to find a roughly built up campsite. Only a few people were occupying it and the smoke that Mushu had seen before turned out to be the remains of a little extinguished campfire.  
At first when Deng's troop had showed up, the soldiers thought they were closed in and the war would be lost, however their mood brightened once the men were close enough to be recognized as their comrades.  
"It's master Fa!"  
Deng let go of his horse, that currently carried an out-cold soldier, and he steadily but swiftly headed to the calling warrior.

"Good to see you, fellow," Deng greeted the man, "Can you give me a status report?"  
The young man walked Deng over to a tent and revealed a few soldiers inside, lying on the hard ground.  
"We've been trying to take care of the wounded ones that have been brought here from the front."  
Nodding, Deng whistled a few men from his own division over to do the deed, while he resumed with the soldier.  
"The others are at the front, you say," Deng attempted to get the bigger picture, while Mushu jumped out of his hiding place to investigate the campsite.  
"And we…" Deng trailed off for a moment, "_saw_ the second division. But what happened to the third party?"  
"I've heard they got surprised by bad weather in the mountains and got lost. We haven't had message from them ever since," the man explained, rather down about this issue.  
"I see," Deng mused and sent a silent prayer to his fellows.  
"Are you the one responsible here?" he then questioned.  
His correspondent was quiet for a while.  
"Our leader is with the others at the front," he then explained, "But up till now, I was running this sanctuary here."  
"Good work, soldier."  
Deng put his hand on the man's shoulder who bowed and gave way, so that Deng could meet the victims. The new man in charge however was found disinterested.  
"With all due respect," he said and glanced back at his troop that was rather taken aback by Deng's statement, "I trust the work of my men. By now."

Mushu turned around, as he heard his guarded one from not so far away.  
"What?" he questioned himself as well and carefully waddled over to Deng and gave him a criticizing look. The man walked into the crowd and picked out a few of the men.  
"You, you, and you. You did some excellent work. You'll stay here to cure the victims." Then he pointed out the rest of them. "You will come with me. Our friends need us at the front."  
So Deng was going to leave immediately again. Mushu took a quick glance into the tent and then did the usual deed in climbing up Deng. He thought it to be too obvious to ask him now, so the dragon waited until they were back on the road.

"What this is all about?" Deng repeated his question, "Easy," he then stated, his shoulders dropping a bit, "These victims will die. There is nothing that I or a doctor could have done for them, by now."  
"Oh well, you know," Mushu put in, "You could have asked _me_ first. I'm the spirit seeker!"  
"You haven't seen them, have you?" Deng inquired, successfully silencing the dragon, "However, the soldiers I chose would have ended up just the same if they had come with us. I figured they were safe at the sanctuary, even if they actually might not deserve it."  
The dragon drove back a little on his guarded one's shoulder.  
So Deng was truly still the old grumpy dude.  
Mushu nodded to himself and cozily leaned himself against his guarded one's neck, the arms crossed behind to serve as a pillow.  
"I knew something was up, you couldn't have fooled me."  
"Fine," the soldier answered disinterested.  
After putting himself on Deng's helmet, the dragon made himself comfortable.  
"You know," Mushu started with a big grin on his face that his guarded one couldn't see, "I'm so excited about this! It's gonna be awesome, I know it! I can feel it in my scales and…"  
"Really, you shouldn't be," the soldier cut him off.  
"Oh why not?" the little dragon questioned and bowed down to meet the eyes of his guarded one upside down. "Why do you do this, when you don't like your job?"  
Deng, almost defending, pulled the reins closer as he tried to keep the horse from bumping into anything.  
"Because," he answered the little critter, putting much emphasis on the single word, "and precisely because it _is_ my job. And my duty."  
Mushu gave a quiet sound, signaling that he had registered what Deng had just said, yet it was not quite clear to him what he meant by that. After he didn't get any further explanation the dragon pulled himself back on the top of the helmet again and impatiently tipped his claws against the metal, soon forgetting about his guarded one's remark as the anticipation began to grow again.


	10. Period 9 :: Honor

**Period 9 – Honor **

Day 50 – Midday

The dragon had calmed down and was lazily sprawled on Deng's helmet, when some time later, his nose caught a strange scent. Mushu attentively and expectantly perked up. There was smoke again in the distance, but this time it was different.  
The guardian's ears flinched uncomfortably, he could already hear how the dark cloud screamed certain doom at him. Maybe it was only the faint sound of fading screams, or the scent of blood and gore that the wind had just carried into their direction.

But it was making the dragon rather nauseous.  
"Uh…" was all he could think of to say.  
"Yes…?"  
"Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?"  
"Most definitely."

Somehow not pleased with this answer, the guardian flattened himself against Deng's helmet, ears laid back.  
"Weeell… I suppose the harder you fight the more honor you bring."  
His guarded one remained in utter silence, without flinching, even as in the distance something detonated and caused the dragon to hide in Deng's collar with a yelp.  
"What was that?" the critter whimpered as it ventured back out.  
"An explosion," Deng answered with a face made of stone as he forced his horse to keep going.  
"An explosion?" Mushu asked; "Like that thing that rips down a stone-house explosion?"  
"Exactly."

The reptile gulped.

"Please tell me they're on our side."  
"They're on our side."  
"Really? And you don't just…"  
"The enemy knows how to use them though."  
Pulling himself out of the collar again, the dragon got back on Deng's shoulder, the tail whipping around nervously.  
A cold smile put itself on Deng's face.  
"What?" the soldier cooed, "Are you scared?"  
"Of course not!" Mushu immediately protested. "After all, I am a guardian dragon extraordinaire! You know, I could take these dudes out single-handedly, so you should rather be proud to be my guarded one!"  
Subtly shaking his head, Deng calmly gave another thrust to the horse and continued the journey at a less hesitant pace, to meet up with his fellows as soon as possible. Right now, that group of whiny men were proving to be more of a burden to him.

The troop was drained and tired when the first signs of battle became visible.  
Corpses were lying around spattered over the floor, buildings were cracked down or still in flames; even the animals had been slaughtered.

"Well, I suppose someone had lousy guardians here," the dragon mumbled as Deng's horse stepped through the left-behind battlefield. The victims so far had been rotting away in an equal match of enemies and allies, and the living souls were still up ahead and fighting.  
The next battle cry got Mushu to look up at the crowd of bloody people.  
"Oh, crap."

Deng gave him a blink from the corner of his eye.  
"Turn around," the dragon insisted with his eyes fixed on the disaster before them as he pleadingly tugged on his guarded one's earlobe.  
"Not likely," Deng retorted.  
"Seriously man, you could die out there!" the dragon caught his tail that refused to stop lashing around and then ominously hunched together. "I can feel it in my scales."  
"Oh, really," Deng hummed, faking belief.  
"You know. I'm the guardian here! It's time you pay my efforts at least a little bit of respect!"  
"I'm the soldier," his guarded one then countered, "And I gotta do my job here, just like you."  
The dragon frowned for a moment and then jumped off, to land on the horse's head and to be at Deng's eyelevel. The poor stallion, surprised at first, gave a disturbed neigh.  
Once he was sure to have his guarded one's attention the dragon pointed straight behind Deng.  
"These fine men are soldiers, too!" Mushu then opened up the argument, "And THEY didn't get hit by just ONE boot!"

Deng demonstratively drew his sword and poked the dragon threateningly.  
"For the last time, Mushu," he repeated, and then moved his sword away, the eyes fixed on the battle ahead of them, as even the last of Deng's men had caught up to him, panting heavily. "No. _Retreat_."  
One of the foot-soldiers behind the mounted man collapsed, but the soldier in charge had left his generous ways behind him once again.  
The dragon remained still for a while, rubbing his chin, contemplating his next move as Deng turned around to give his attention to the wheezing bunch of men before him.  
"Alright, soldiers!"  
Some of them tried to gain a position, others continued gasping, others dropped to the floor like rag dolls.  
"This is it. This is the battlefield!"  
Before the dragon knew it, some of the fitter soldiers had stormed past Deng's horse and he watched them move on in utter terror. The soldier in command would soon follow them, but that was one thing that Mushu couldn't have happening, so he crawled onto the very top of the horse's skull and bent down to meet the animal's ear.  
"Hey buddy," he tried in a soothing voice, so as not to startle the mount by his looks. "You wanna live, right?" he then asked, trying to keep himself calm and convincing.

-  
Corpses here, corpses there, corpses everywhere. And what was… _OHMAIGAWD!_  
Even though Mushu led the horse through the battlefield at a full gallop he couldn't help but close his eyes at THIS. Man, what sick mind did stuff like that?  
"What the hell are you doing there?" Deng's voice was still trying to get through to him, but the dragon blocked it out. This might have worked with the sound, but not with the big, rough hand that suddenly snatched the guardian up.  
"You're gonna get us all KILLED!"  
"No!" the dragon protested, clawing at the hand, "NO!"  
"Don't tell me what to do, you little pest! I've had it up to here with you!"  
Mushu stopped the clawing and lowered his head, a threatening growl emitting from the back of his throat.  
Without voicing his opinion, the dragon settled for responding with a bite.

The grip on the dragon instantly tightened, causing Mushu to release the guarded one and grit his own teeth instead. Deng's motion then indicated something the dragon was far too used to already from the soldier, however he couldn't have picked a worse timing than this, and so the dragon clawed at Deng's sleeve in protest.  
The soldier in charge should seriously have had something better to worry about in the midst of a battlefield than how to get rid of his guardian – other than Mushu though, Deng apparently seemed to blend out the struggle all around him.  
"Deeeeeng!" Mushu still tried to call some sense into him, but by then his guarded one's hand was already flying forward and the dragon couldn't hold himself against this velocity.

The dragon tried to keep a steady eye on his protégé as he whistled through the air, incapable of stopping himself. He impacted with the ground hard, and continued to skid over the dirty floor until something hit him in the back. It was rather soft and Mushu didn't need to turn around to know that it was a fallen soldier. Another one greeted him right before his very eyes, yet the dragon wanted to see only _one_ of the soldiers right now.

Mushu pushed himself up and peered over the corpse before him, while he stayed hidden behind it. The amount of spirits coming to him right now was overwhelming.  
Far off from the murmurs, there was noise in the distance. Bits and pieces of a conversation, nothing that he could actually comprehend.  
Whether it belonged to a survivor or a ghost was unclear.  
The dragon, however, quickly deemed them dead.  
Anything else was hard to accept.

Everything appeared so… abnormally clear to him.  
Every furrow in a brow, every drop of blood on the soldiers' bodies.  
And there where he'd come from, he saw…  
Jian!

The dragon threateningly lowered his head, a deep growl emitting from his jaws, before he attempted to call after his guarded one.  
It was too late when he recognized the lifted sword. Too late to do anything now anyway.  
The weapon came down in a staggered motion as Mushu's mind still tried to fight the scenario away.  
"Watch out!"  
This was not happening. It could not be happening.  
But it did.

And it so painfully slowed down when the metal reached Deng's neck, who was all but focused on his nemesis, that when the dragon began to dash forward, everything felt like it was slowly freezing before his very eyes.  
And at some point, Deng's head was caught in midair, still and, no- just still.  
Time had stopped- frozen. Not that time had ever mattered to an immortal in first place.

The stock-still scenery by his side suddenly went to catch up all that might have gone missing and the images flashed past him, as if they were nothing more than sole wind blowing him away, as the dragon fought his way over to the fallen soldier.  
The head had finally bounced unceremoniously to the floor, leaving a trail of blood that splashed beneath the thundering hooves of Deng's stallion and by the time Mushu had arrived at his guarded one, the horse had thrown the body off already and fled in panic – no time for the dragon to comfort the animal.  
If Deng hadn't been beheaded previously, by now his neck would have been broken anyway.

The dragon scurried around his guarded one's separated skull for a while. Heavily panting and shaking all over - realization did not want to catch up with him.  
He was not sad.  
He was not scared.  
He was downright empty, devoid of any emotion.  
And yet, he felt shocked and insecure of what was to come…  
Now, that it was all over…

Or was it?

Deng's spirit didn't show up. Mushu twiddled his thumbs anxiously.  
Wasn't there something about not entering the afterlife when you were beheaded…? Oh, wait – those were the Incas, Deng was a Samurai, so that was fine.  
Wasn't it?

Mushu decided to wait for just a little longer, barely giving Deng a minute, before the guardian's mind snapped as there was no spirit to come and something inside of him, something desperate began to think that there might still be a chance for Deng… to live.  
He was a lucky dragon after all, right?  
Right?  
He was insane.  
Anyway the dragon got to work – on what he had learned from Deng.  
-

Day X – Midnight 

There are times when you can tell someone is dead, and there are times when you lose your sanity. That time had come for Mushu. His panic had increased considerably as nothing had proven to help.

'_Don't do this.'_  
Fresh blood spattered upon his already dripping chest. The bright yellow colors had gone long before, replaced by an ash-grey taint that was covered by the brown dried blood. He couldn't recall for how long he had been trying already.  
"Stand up!" the voice squeaked, choking. Truth hadn't dawned on the dragon that his protégé was already dead. The little reptile scurried round his guarded one, forgetting to breathe as he punched the corpse on its chest, just to be hit by a new splash of whatever blood was left inside the dead man.  
"Fine!" the dragon tried to yell but had to realize that his voice was lost. He jumped upon the body, pacing around on it just to reach the neck. The clean cut off neck. Deng's head wasn't lying too far away from it.  
"Have your honorable death!" Mushu barked, and jumped down to give the loose skull a swift kick.  
'_What about me?'_  
The dragon slipped in a puddle of blood and collapsed to the floor. He didn't care about standing up anymore. Reality had finally caught up with him – his protégé was dead.  
Shaking, the dragon blinked to spot his claws blurrily. They were stained… with foreign blood! Wildly sobbing he enclosed them to fists, pulling them close. He was the picture of misery, curled up in the blood of a former friend whom he had failed to protect.  
He'd only tried to help.

Mushu glanced up again, focusing on Deng's head. Regaining his posture, he stood up, walked over to it and lifted it from the floor to stare into the open, lifeless eyes.  
"Have you got everything you wanted now?" the dragon asked with a calm hiss.  
"You IDIOT!" he then exclaimed, throwing the head down to the ground.  
"WHAT – ABOUT – ME?" the dragon shouted with every punch he sent to the loose skull and finally broke down upon it, sobbing.  
"We are a team, remember?"  
Time had lost its meaning.  
And so had stealth and everything else.  
If Mushu felt the cold shadow on his skin, he didn't bother to turn around.

* * *

_Trivia: _  
DUN DUN DUUUUN  
Yes, you read that correctly, Deng's ghost didn't show up. Seems like our fav little dragon isn't all to good concerning the SUMMONING of ghosts... and somehow everyone of this matter ends up beheaded... hum... ~

And yup, this thing used to be bigger...  
But the horrible author that is me decided to make a cut here and give you a BONUS chapter in two weeks %D

Ain't I awesome? x3

I'm taking bets on who this character is =)


	11. Period 10 :: Beginning

_AN: People were guessing Ping and Deng and actually Samiel which I find pretty interesting (seeing as the previous scene used to be a recycled Samiel Oneshot)... all good shots so far; but none of them quite right. _  
_Have at it now, here is the solution! 8D_  
**-**

**Period 10 – Beginning **

Day X – Midnight

"What about you?" a more or less familiar voice whispered from behind, followed by the soft sound of sliding metal.  
It wasn't Ping.  
"I remember you."  
The guardian's ears popped up in alert as they had done so often before and he leapt to the side, just to find a sword landing where he had been just seconds before. Some of Deng's hair had been cut loose. Mushu's gaze followed the metal upwards to find Jian there, glaring down at him.  
Deng was dead – what more could he want?

As if reading the question in his mind, Jian pulled the sword up again, twisting it in his hands.  
"I could have you suffer, you know, about your loss there – for all eternity."  
The traitor pulled the sword close by and stroked the blood-stained blade carefully.  
"But it is said that time heals all wounds…"  
Mushu dodged the unexpected blow just barely.  
"And this option is way more fun!"  
The dragon pulled back with mild surprise, but soon collected himself and blew a determined flame at Jian's hand, who dropped the sword with an angry growl. As the soldier dismounted from his horse to pick up the weapon, Mushu hastily began to look around.  
Additionally to the darkness it was getting misty, but he could tell by the fallen silence that the actual battle was meanwhile being fought out elsewhere.  
"Ping?" the dragon called, carefully scanning the sky. Where was the big, tall, frightening dragon when you needed him?  
Every now and then he gave Jian a glance. The constant moving of his gaze made the guardian feel particularly dizzy as his adrenaline kicked up and he darted into the assumed safe fog, where Jian wouldn't see him.

The blue eastern carefully swept over the battlefield, scanning the victims. The dragon didn't really know what kept him counting and then he froze in midair as his heart skipped a beat.  
The giant guardian hovered to the ground, staring at that one soldier lying there. The one soldier of the fourth division that had lived his life long enough to befriend his former guarded one.  
Ping carefully nudged Deng's still body and glanced at the head. He bowed his own deeply and paid the soldier his last respects.  
Mushu was nowhere near.  
A pink dragon glanced over Ping's shoulder to glimpse at the corpse and then buried herself in the tall guardian's fur.  
"This is awful."  
The blue eastern lifted his head again to glance at the female.  
"It's Mushu's guarded one."  
She pulled away a little, a sharp intake of breath following her as she looked around for him.  
"Did they leave already?" she asked, her voice fighting against pathetic squeaks. Ping looked up.  
"No."  
Yingtao tilted her head at his answer when a familiar voice in the distance caught her attention. Her ears popping up as she jumped on Ping's head, to look out for their friend.  
"He's in trouble!"  
"What did you expect?" Ping stated and lifted off from the ground.

From time to time the red reptile stopped for a moment, scanning the environment for any sign of help, but all he saw was a haze and all he heard were heavy footsteps following him, so Mushu forced himself to move on. And eventually he found shelter.  
The dragon escaped into one of the few still standing houses. Considering its architecture and the instruments hanging on the wall it was a former sheep farm.  
Not intending to stop Mushu went on into the yard. Before him he could see a little boulder. Maybe, he hoped, it would grant him to see above the mist. He sprinted towards it, but before he could reach it the dragon lost the ground beneath his feet and just barely managed to hold onto a – stone wall?  
Perplexedly he climbed up again to examine the thing. It looked nearly invisible from the backside and behind it, if he only concentrated well enough, he thought he was able to see a field not too much below. It was probably where the sheep were held, though none were there right now. Not anymore.

The door he had slipped beneath was broken open by force and the dragon snapped around. He glanced another time at what was lying in front of him. Determination hit him like a ton of bricks.  
"I'm here!" the dragon called and gave a little fireball for emphasis to lead Jian's way through the fog.

A cold smirk appeared on the soldier's face as he calmly walked over to where he assumed the dragon to be.  
"You know," Jian began a monologue, "You've been a nuisance!"  
Mushu lowered his head in anger, stepping a little further into the mist.  
"Killing you will be fun."  
"You already said that!" the dragon barked, getting the traitor's attention.  
He hadn't assumed Jian to be so close already when Mushu felt some cold metal touching his waist.  
"I found you," the voice hollered as the blade traveled up to the guardian's neck, forcing him onto the ground. As it lifted, the dragon clutched for a little twig to block the swing, he wasn't ready to share the fate of his guarded one just like this. Naturally the puny defense didn't help and almost ended in Mushu losing one of his whiskers. However, the dragon acted quickly, set the slightly damp wood on fire and threw the first piece at the soldier to scurry out of his eyesight again.  
He then snuck behind the man, climbed up his leg and placed the other half of the twig into the soldier's belt. With an impish grin, Mushu rubbed his hands victoriously before he ignited the wood.

The dragon paid for it immediately with being slapped and dropped to the soil. Just then he noticed a foot coming down on him – too late to dodge. Yet again, the guardian proved lucky, for Jian didn't repeat the action. Instead the soldier started stumbling around, spewing wild curses.  
Pulling himself from the ground Mushu decided to watch it just a little longer until the traitorous soldier disappeared back in the mist again. Not long after an awkward crack came from below that caused the dragon to flinch. When Mushu glanced over the ha-ha, he found Jian's body lying there head-first, limply. The dragon remained there watching for a while just to find that the traitor was stock-still. After a double-take it was clear to him that Jian's neck was broken.  
Mushu puffed himself up, yet again trying to make himself big. This time it worked.  
"You cannot kill a guardian!"

When Mushu left the hut Ping was waiting for him. The blue eastern found his little fellow in a worn-out state and smeared with blood.  
"You're late," the red dragon remarked.  
"What happened to you?" Ping asked as Mushu tried to keep himself standing.

"Oh well, well where to start, see, I had to clean myself with the clothing of that corpse in the yard there that tried to kill me just now and I didn't see anything because of that darn mist. I suppose that the sky is still blue up there, somewhere, but I predict cloudy with a chance of meatballs for tomorrow. Also, why the heck do I feel like ranting about someone disabling a 'firewall'?"  
The dragon glared firmly at his tall friend.  
Yingtao who emerged on Ping's shoulder quivered slightly.  
"What…" the blue dragon tried to soothe her.  
The dragoness flinched at the words and turned to face the little guardian on the ground. "Honey, Deng is…"  
Mushu ears twitched as though it wasn't obvious and he pointed up at the two of them, to emphasize his point.  
"Oh yes, and Deng is dead!"  
He then turned away from the both of them, his arms crossed in a pout.

Yingtao and Ping exchanged a worried glance and then the smaller one jumped off to the ground.  
Before Mushu knew what was happening he was embraced in a hug, Yingtao's soft fur nuzzling over his head.  
"I'm so sorry, dear."  
The little guardian felt completely numb to her touch.  
Other than what Mushu expected, Yingtao's compassion wasn't so much for the soldier's demise, but rather the fact that her little friend had just successfully wasted his whole life away.  
And it appeared he didn't even know.

-  
The two friends had led the dragon to Deng's corpse and by now its spirit was hovering over the dead body. The fingers of the left hand were impatiently beating a rhythm on the other arm, which's hand was holding…  
Deng's fairly displeased head.  
Oh why couldn't it have been a pumpkin?

"Where were you?" the ghost hollered, anger very evident in his voice. The two other dragons flinched away slightly, but didn't dare to leave their friend alone yet again.

Mushu remained cool as he faced the spirit of his guarded one.

"Hello, Deng," the red dragon voiced in front of his former protégé, with a tone that made his companions assume the floor before him had rapidly frozen over.  
"Your ghost didn't show up," Mushu then stated, so dry it barely resembled an apology.  
"Well, I was busy in trying to find my body, genius!"  
The little dragon closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air, while Yingtao and Ping flinched again. This was… not going to be good.  
"You try directing a blind torso around first!"  
Mushu rolled his eyes.  
"And where were you?" It sounded like an accusation. "While I was busy struggling around here, all on my own?" It was an accusation.  
The dragon glanced down on his blood-smeared torso, absentmindedly scratching it.  
Technically all of that blood belonged to Deng.  
"I avenged you."

The ghost remained irresponsive for a while until he took in an imaginary breath of air. It felt weird not to breathe anymore.  
"I suppose you will be glad that I have something for you to do now."  
One of Mushu's ears popped up quizzically and Deng got to meet a frown.  
"Like what?" the guardian questioned, his voice indicating a small hiss.  
What could Deng possibly want from him, now that he was _dead_?  
"Bring me home."

The dragon's other ear jerked up as well, and his tail stiffened as an angered "_What?_" escaped his throat.  
Deng merely shrugged.  
"I cannot leave this place without you."  
Mushu's tail twitched again before he loosened up and tilted his head at the former guarded one.  
"Save yourself," and with that he turned his back on the specter.  
"But you need to guide me home!" Deng hollered. It came out less harsh than he had intended it to be.  
It was then that Ping had decided it might be better to leave, for he knew that in this case he could not stand up for his little friend. He calmly took Yingtao by her arms and led her away like a little child. The dragoness couldn't see what was happening behind her, but however much Ping tried to blot the scenario out for her, he could not shut her ears.

"_You're_ the one who needed to die so badly! You have what you wanted now, so make the best of it!"  
There was a short moment of heavy silence that was broken by an – in comparison – rather calm addition.  
"Good luck."  
And with that the dragon turned to walk away.  
"Why, you little…"  
Mushu didn't get that far, for Deng had grabbed him with the one free hand that wasn't busy with holding Deng's better half; just to receive a bite. Without a yelp or any wished experience of pain, the dragon was tossed back to the ground, like so many times before. As soon as the red critter had landed, he had picked himself back up, devoting his whole attention to Deng once more.  
"So you do not need a guardian and my only purpose is to learn something here!" he quoted with bitter sarcasm. The headless waited a moment for the dragon to cool off before he lowly, calmly indicated: "You did learn spirit guidance in that village didn't you?"

Mushu went still for a moment, literally seeing through Deng. Finally.  
"If you did notice," the dragon began rather composedly, but soon his voice rose up, "then why did you question me back then?"  
The hand that held Deng's head calmly pulled away as a grump came from the ectoplasm-skull.  
"You're a possession of the Fa family."  
He was _his_ guardian, not somebody or anyone else's.  
And the former soldier would make sure that Mushu got what he deserved for his disrespect.

It was then when a determined battle cry caught their attention. On top of the hill the missing third division appeared, and they stormed vigorous and strong on towards the battle that was held in the distance. Ping took Yingtao and floated up while Mushu took cover below a corpse as their men advanced through the devastation the group had gathered within. Once the last of the men had phased through Deng, the soldier gave a last shudder and reopened his eyes to look after them.  
They were definitely not needed here anymore.  
When Mushu crawled out from under the corpse and glanced at the silver lining that had just passed him, Deng's voice called for him.

"Let's go home."

_You couldn't trust anyone, the dragon reckoned.  
From now on, he'd be looking out for himself.  
_

-  
"Gong Duty? Whatever do you mean 'Gong Duty'? I did nothing wrong!"

* * *

_Trivia:_  
Yep, that was it xD (This had some awfully lot similiarities to the falcon fight I just figured... uh well xD)  
Thank you all for the read and the reviews and the nice time during the last 5 months, it is very much appreciated =)

17-11-09 – 25-01-10 (without Beta)


End file.
